The Supreme Court on Friday asked the government to consider the option of setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the black money stashed away by Indian citizens in foreign banks.
An apex court bench of Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar asked Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniun to get back with the government’s response by March 28.
The court also asked the solicitor general for the names of the officers who could be included in the SIT.
However, the court made it clear that its suggestion of setting up the SIT was only in the realm of options.
Meanwhile, the court said that Hasan Ali Khan, said to be the country’s biggest tax evader, who has been remanded to four days’ custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), will be sent to judicial custody on the expiry of this period.
It said this after counsel U.U. Lalit sought a clarification on the court’s order Thursday cancelling the bail granted to Khan by a Mumbai court and remanding him to the ED’s custody for four days.
It also preponed to March 28 a hearing on Khan’s petition originally listed for April 4.
The court’s observations came during the hearing of a petition by eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani seeking directions to the central government to take steps to bring back black money stashed away by Indian citizens in foreign banks in tax havens.
