The Supreme Court (SC), while interpreting ‘power to arrest’ by Directorate of Enforcement (ED) under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), has held that, while carrying out arrest of an accused in a PMLA case, under Section 19 of PMLA, it is not necessary requirement for the ED to immediately inform the grounds of arrest to the accused, & the same would be justifiable if done so within 24 hours of the arrest. The SC further held that, the interpretation of the expression “as soon as may be”, used under Section 19 of PMLA, has to be construed as “as early as possible without avoidable delay” or “within reasonably convenient” or “reasonably requisite” period of time.
