ECIR an internal doc, not shared with accused: ED | Economic Times

The Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), an Enforcement Directorate document which is widely seen as similar to the police first information report, is “just a name” given to an internal document only “for the purpose of identification” of a case, the federal agency has told the Delhi High Court.The ED that probes money-laundering cases said “nothing emanates from an ECIR” and that it was “not a prerequisite” for starting investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.The agency said this in a recent response to a petition filed by Avantha group promoter Gautam Thapar, challenging his arrest by the agency in a money laundering case on August 3. Thapar has sought a copy of the ECIR lodged against him.The ECIR need not be shared with any accused, the ED argued, while saying also that it was “not a complaint” but just “a number given to an internal document” for identification.The ECIR is a document meant for “identification of a particular case and for departmental convenience” and is “purely an internal document”, it said in the response, which ET has seen.