Overview
- Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya dismissed petitions by Captain Amarinder Singh and Raninder Singh challenging lower court orders and permitted the Enforcement Directorate to inspect Income Tax Department records.
- The order cites Supreme Court precedent in Ram Jethmalani v. Union of India to conclude that Article 28 of the Indo‑French DTAA poses no obstacle to inspection for investigation.
- The court noted the Income Tax Department does not oppose sharing the material and directed that the information must not be publicly disseminated without legal permission.
- The records include 2011 ‘master sheets’ received from French authorities and were used in 2016 criminal complaints alleging concealed foreign assets, HSBC Geneva accounts, and links to the Jacaranda Trust and a Dubai property.
- An ED official said the ruling enables the agency to advance its FEMA inquiry, though officials acknowledged that a FEMA case requires proof beyond alleged tax evasion, and the underlying criminal proceedings remain ongoing.