The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) petition challenging a Bombay High Court order that declared the arrest of former Vasai-Virar civic body chief Anil Pawar in a money laundering case as illegal.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued notice to Pawar and sought his response within three weeks.
The ED had arrested Pawar on August 13, alleging his involvement in a money laundering racket linked to illegal construction activities between 2008 and 2010. According to the agency, 41 buildings were illegally constructed by builders and developers in connivance with officials of the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO).
Pawar, a 2014-batch IAS officer, served as the commissioner of the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation from January 13, 2022, to July 25, 2025. The agency claimed that investigations conducted between February and August 2025 revealed that he received “huge illegal gratifications” from those involved in the constructions.
Pawar, however, denied all allegations and maintained that his arrest was an arbitrary and unlawful exercise of power.
On October 15, the Bombay High Court had quashed Pawar’s arrest, terming it “illegal” and without any prima facie basis. The court observed:
“When we examined the materials on record with reference to the aforementioned dictum, we see no prima-facie case made out against the petitioner for his arrest on August 13, 2025.”
The High Court further noted that while the ED referred to illegal constructions of 41 buildings, those activities occurred long before Pawar assumed office, and therefore, he could not be linked to the alleged illegalities. The court also set aside the orders of remand passed by a special PMLA court and ordered Pawar’s release.
Challenging the High Court’s decision, the ED has now approached the Supreme Court, contending that the arrest was lawful and based on material evidence collected during investigation. The apex court will take up the matter for detailed hearing after three weeks.
The case concerns alleged illegal construction of residential and commercial structures on government and private land under the jurisdiction of the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation, a region long plagued by unauthorized development issues.
