The Enforcement Directorate (ED), a long arm of the Modi government, has extensively deployed its resources for disciplining dissenting political opponents, conducting 3,010 raids between 2014 and 2022 (eight years), as compared to 112 raids carried out between 2004 and 2014 during the ten years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule.

ED raids target financial crimes, including money laundering, violation of foreign exchange regulations, and cases involving fugitive economic offenders under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FERA and FEMA). The objective is to detect, investigate and prosecute individuals and institutions involved in financial crimes and to recover the proceeds of crime.

Consequently, the ED has the power to conduct searches, seize assets, attach properties, and make arrests in connection with the offences it investigates. It could raid a business suspected of laundering money through shell companies or a person suspected of violating FEMA by illegally transferring money abroad.

Among the most famous people raided by the ED are Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in the National Herald (newspaper) case, followed by Bhupinder Singh Honey, nephew of the former Punjab Chief Minister, in an illegal sand mining case. Honey was also arrested in the case. The ED seized more than ?10 crore, gold worth ?21 lakhs, and a Rolex watch worth ?12 lakhs from Honey's residence.

Other prominent people raided were IAS officer Pooja Singhal, an aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Partha Chatterjee, former West Bengal Education Minister, and his aide Aprita Mukherjee. The Minister was also arrested following the 'recovery' of ?21 crore in cash from the residence of Arpita Mukherjee.

Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi's Health Minister Satyender Jain was arrested by the ED in May 2018 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the CBI registered an FIR against him in a disproportionate asset case on August 24, 2017.

Other prominent people arrested by the ED are Karti Chidambaram, Congress Member of Parliament and son of former Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the Chinese Visa case, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Sanjay Chhabria and Avinash Bhosale in the Yes Bank - DHFL case, Maharashtra Minister and prominent Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik for his alleged link with fugitive gangster leader Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company.

The ED also arrested former Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, and Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, in connection with the alleged liquor scam while they were in office. It also arrested K. Kavitha, the daughter of the former Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrashekhar Rao, in connection with the scam.

The ED also filed a supplementary chargesheet against former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, in connection with the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) fund scam! Besides these, the ED in February 2024 attached ?1.77 crore of the assets of Washington Post Columnist Rana Ayyub in a money laundering case. The ED charged her with misusing donations for personal expenses.

The ED's unbridled, more than a decade-long run came to an abrupt halt on July 21, 2025, when a Supreme Court bench comprising the Chief Justice of India, BR Gavai, and Justice K Vinod Chandran asked the ED why it was being used for "political battles." It dismissed the ED's appeal against the Karnataka High Court's quashing of the summons against the wife of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, BM Parvathi, and State Minister Byrathi Suresh. The summons was issued in connection with the alleged illegal allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

While hearing a matter, the CJI told the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, "please don't ask us to open our mouths. Otherwise, we will be forced to make some harsh comments about the ED. Unfortunately, I have some experience in Maharashtra. You do not perpetuate this violence across the country now. Let the political battles be fought before the electorate. Why are you being used as a tool?"

Meanwhile, in a severe indictment of the ED, the Madras High Court, in a separate case, has stated that the ED can take action only upon the existence of a predicate offence and cannot conduct investigations on its own.

A bench comprising Justices MS Ramesh and V Laxminarayanan observed that the ED cannot act like a super cop and investigate anything and everything that comes to its notice. There should be a "criminal activity" that attracts the provisions of the PMLA, and on account of such criminal activity, there should have been "proceeds of crime." It is only then that the jurisdiction of the ED commences, the court said. If the agency were allowed to conduct an investigation merely upon learning about any activity, the ED would be conducting a roving enquiry, the court added.

"The essential ingredient for the ED to seize jurisdiction is the presence of a predicate offence. It is like a limpet mine attached to a ship. If there is no ship, the limpet cannot work. The ship is the predicate offence and 'proceeds of crime.' The ED is not a loitering munition or drone to attack at will on any criminal activity," the court pointed out.

The court further explained that, as per Section 66(2) of the PMLA, if the ED comes across a violation of law during an investigation, it cannot assume the role of an investigating agency and investigate those offences as well.

In this context, it is pertinent to mention a remark made by Justice Ramesh in June 2025, that the courts often term the PMLA 2002 as an "evolving legislation," which raises new legal questions. In truth, it is actually the "officials of the ED who are evolving day by day by expanding their powers!"