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Setback for ED as Supreme Court upholds Bombay HC order to release ex-VVMC commissioner

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Anilkumar Khanderao Pawar in connection with the alleged bribes received for approving the illegal construction of 41 residential and commercial buildings in Vasai-Virar.

2 min readMumbaiFeb 4, 2026 04:42 PM IST

ED approached the Supreme Court claiming that the Bombay High Court had erred in its order.

In a setback to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed its appeal against a Bombay High Court order that declared the arrest of former commissioner of the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) Anilkumar Khanderao Pawar as “illegal”.

ED arrested Anilkumar Khanderao Pawar in connection with the alleged bribes received for approving the illegal construction of 41 residential and commercial buildings in the Vasai-Virar region of Maharashtra.
ED had claimed that the total proceeds of crime amounted to Rs 300.92 crore, of which Rs 169 crore was allegedly linked to Pawar.

On October 15, 2025, a high court bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad ordered Pawar’s release under certain conditions and refused ED’s request to stay the operation of its order.

On August 13, ED arrested Pawar and Y S Reddy, who was suspended as the deputy director of town planning at the VVCMC, along with Sitaram Gupta, a former corporator of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi who is in the construction business, and his nephew Arun Gupta.

The high court had observed that there was “no tangible material” with the central agency against Pawar at the time of his arrest as required under section 19 (power of arrest) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The high court, while terming Pawar’s arrest “illegal” and ordering quashing and setting aside of remand orders, had also observed that there was “no material on record to show that proceeds of crime generated by the sale of illegal 41 buildings have reached Pawar”.

ED approached the Supreme Court with an appeal challenging the release order, with Additional Solicitor- General Davinder Pal Singh claiming that the high court had erred in passing such a verdict.

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However, senior advocate Rajiv Shakdher, along with advocate Ujjwalkumar Chavhan, opposed ED’s appeal.
After hearing submissions, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta held, “We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court. The Special Leave Petition is, accordingly, dismissed.”