The Bombay High Court has ordered that no coercive action should be taken against Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal till January 31 in connection with the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate, Bar and Bench reported on Tuesday.

The order was passed by a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and PK Chavan on January 17.

The Enforcement Directorate’s case is based on a first information report filed by the Mumbai Police against the former Jet Airways chief, his wife and others in February 2020.

The FIR was related to charges of alleged fraud against a Mumbai-based travel company, which had said that it suffered a loss of over Rs 46 crores after Jet Airways cancelled operations in October 2018.

A month later, a closure report was filed in the case by the Mumbai Police saying that it could not find any substance in the complaint and the dispute seemed to be civil in nature. The report, opposed by the Enforcement Directorate, was subsequently accepted by the court. It was later also upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court.

During the hearing in the High Court, advocates Ravi Kadam and Abad Ponda, representing the Goyals, argued that since the predicate offence as required by Enforcement Directorate does not exist, the Enforcement Directorate’s case should be quashed, reported The Indian Express.

Advocate Shreeram Shirsat, representing the Enforcement Directorate, sought time to respond to the petitions.

“In the meantime, till the next date [January 31], no coercive steps be taken against the petitioners in respect of the said [ED case],” the bench then ordered.