Judge says detention at Delhi airport amounted to arrest & violated 24-hr rule
PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has strongly criticised the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for how it handled the case of Kenyan national Newton Muthuri Kimani. The court granted him bail, saying the agency had kept him in “illegal custody” from the moment he was stopped at Delhi airport.
Kimani was arrested by the ED in December 2023 at Delhi airport in a money laundering and human trafficking case, and later brought to Goa for investigation. Justice Valmiki Menezes said Kimani’s detention at Delhi airport on December 8, 2023, under an ED Look Out Circular (LOC), was effectively an “arrest”. The judge said the ED failed to produce him before a magistrate within the required 24 hours, which violated Article 22(2) of the Constitution and Section 57 of the CrPC. Because of this delay, the court held that the arrest itself was invalid.
According to the case, Kimani was accused of letting others use his bank accounts and QR codes to collect money from sex trafficking operations run by two co-accused, who brought women to Goa under the pretext of hospitality jobs.
ED findings showed that more than Rs 21.2 crore passed through the accounts of Kimani and another accused through thousands of small UPI transactions. Around Rs 3.4 crore was allegedly sent to Kenya through hawala channels.
The High Court was told that Kimani was stopped at Delhi’s IGI Airport while trying to fly to Nairobi. Immigration officers detained him around 10.30 am and kept him in a room until ED officers from Goa reached the next morning. He was then flown to Goa, officially arrested at 6.30 pm on December 9, and produced before a magistrate at 7.30 pm.
The judge rejected the ED’s claim that there was a difference between “detention” by immigration and “arrest” by the agency. The court said that since immigration officers held Kimani based on an LOC issued by the ED, it was effectively an ED-directed arrest from 10.30 am onwards. The judge noted that ED officers immediately flew from Goa after learning of the detention, which showed Kimani was under custody long before the “official” arrest.
Because the 24-hour rule was violated, the court said it had no choice but to grant bail, relying on recent Supreme Court judgments that mandate such action.
The court ordered Kimani’s release on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh, along with conditions: he must surrender his passport, register with the FRRO, report to the ED once a month, reveal his source of funds, and stay within Goa unless the trial court allows travel.
