The Enforcement Directorate(ED) has been allowed by a Delhi court to interrogate and record the statements of Ullas Prabhakar and his wife, accused in the multi-crore Stock Guru scam case, in Tihar Jail here.
The order came on an application filed by the ED seeking permission to examine and record the statements of both the accused, who are presently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody, in the prison itself.
During the arguments on the plea, ED's prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta told the court that some acts of both the accused, Ullas Prabhakar alias Lokeshwar Dev and his wife Raksha alias Priyanka Saraswat, were covered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and their interrogation was required for their probe into the case.
Matta told the court that interrogation and recording of statements of both the accused was necessary for proceeding in the ongoing probe and the ED's investigators may be allowed to examine them in jail.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Ajay Pandey allowed the plea and asked ED officers, including an Assistant Director, to interrogate Ullas and his wife in jail.
"In the fact and circumstances, application filed by the Directorate of Enforcement is allowed and Pankaj Khanna, Assistant Director, along with Enforcement officer Swapan Bose and Assistant Enforcement Officer Devender Kumar Singh are allowed to examine and record the statement of Lokeshwar Dev and Priyanka Saraswat," the CMM said.
Ullas and Raksha were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police on November 10 last year from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra for allegedly duping around two lakh investors from seven states of nearly Rs 500 crore by promising them high returns through their firm M/s Stock Guru India dealing in stock market.
