The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to harass five district collectors from Tamil Nadu in connection with alleged money-laundering cases after being informed that they were kept at the agency office from 11am to 8.30pm.

“You can’t do it. Don’t detain them unnecessarily. Don’t harass them. They have to tend to their districts,” a bench of Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal told ED counsel Zoheb Hossain.

The bench made the observation after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Tamil Nadu government, told the bench that the ED officials were unnecessarily detaining the collectors in the name of investigation.

“They (collectors) came at 11 in the morning and were made to sit there till 8.30 AT night,” Sibal told the bench, prompting it to make the observation.

Hossain, however, complained that the collectors did not furnish the documents sought by the ED, an allegation disputed by Sibal, who said all papers had been submitted.

The bench directed the ED to file an affidavit stating which documents were sought and the ones not provided and posted the matter for further hearing in July.