ED Summons Senior Advocate Pratap Venugopal in Religare ESOP Investigation; SCAORA Raises Alarm

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Senior Advocate Pratap Venugopal in connection with its probe into the grant of ESOPs to Dr. Rashmi Saluja, former chairperson of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL). The summons, issued under Section 50 of the PMLA, directs him to appear before the ED in Mumbai on June 27, 2025.

Venugopal, who became a designated Senior Advocate in January 2025, had facilitated a legal opinion authored by Senior Advocate Arvind Datar regarding the ESOPs. The ED has now sought all communications and records of payments made in connection with this legal advice. Notably, the earlier ED summons to Datar was later withdrawn.

The development has sparked strong concerns from the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA), which has written to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, calling this move a threat to attorney–client privilege and the independence of the legal profession. SCAORA described the action as “deeply disquieting” and warned it sets a “dangerous precedent.”

SCAORA President Vipin Nair stated: “Such unwarranted and coercive measures … threaten the very foundation of the lawyer-client relationship.”

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