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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday posted a plea filed by Popular Front of India (PFI) Chairman, O.M.A. Salam seeking direction to quash/set aside Reference Case (RC-14/2022) dated April 13, 2022, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for hearing on October 31.

During the hearing today, the counsel for Salam submitted that the NIA filed the reply yesterday only. He also sought time to respond to NIA's reply.

The bench Justice Saurabh Banerjee said, "At the joint request of both the parties, let the matter be listed for hearing on October 31". 

Salam in his plea prayed that NIA should not file a final report under Section 173 (Report of police officer on completion of an investigation) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC).

Earlier, the counsel for Salam had stated that in the present case, the challenge is purely on legal grounds i.e. the NIA can only investigate only scheduled offences including offences under Section 6(5) of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008. He had further stated that there is a mandatory requirement of permission from the Central Government.

The counsel had added that in the present case, there is permission and stated that: “I am saying they (NIA) may investigate but Lord! May have a scheme of Section 6..normal scheme is the State government finds a particular offence where there are elements of the interest of the Central Government…it then has 15 days to decide whether the NIA should be involved or not, and that decision either it is involved or not involved. Therefore, there is always a requirement under Section 6(1) to (4).”

“Section 6(5) says that regardless of sub-sections 1 to 4, in given cases the NIA may directly investigate the matter but not register the offence and that is in contradiction to Section 6(8). So the submission your Lordship! Is only this that if what is stated in the FIR is correct then an important step in this, that the offence ought to have been registered at first by the State (Delhi Police)”, the counsel had contended.

Noting that the offence ought to be registered by the State of Delhi, Justice Jasmeet Singh had then issued notice to the NIA in February.

Salam was arrested during a search carried out by NIA on September 22, 2022, wherein incriminating documents, cash, sharp-edged weapons, and a large number of digital devices had been seized.

Case Title: O.M.A Salam v. National Investigation Agency

Statute: The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; The National Investigation Agency Act, 2008