India, June 20 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday withdrew its summons to senior advocate Pratap Venugopal, just hours after the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) urged Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai to take suo motu cognisance of the agency's move, calling it a grave infringement on the independence of the legal profession and the sanctity of lawyer-client privilege.

Venugopal, who had been summoned on June 19 to appear before the ED on June 24 under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, received a text message from the agency on Friday afternoon informing him that the notice "stands withdrawn with immediate effect."

The summons pertained to the ongoing investig...