Supreme Court upholds decision on money laundering case, grants stay on arrest warrant pending further proceedings

The Supreme Court confirmed the decision to reject the revision applications challenging the order taking cognizance under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and dismissed SLP (Crl.) No. 784/2020. The Court kept the questions of law open for future consideration. For the order issuing arrest warrants, the Court issued a notice returnable on 10.02.2020 for SLP (Crl.) Nos. 792/2020 & 909/2020. The respondent-Union of India was granted three days to file an affidavit, and a stay was ordered on the non-bailable warrant pending further consideration, with the case listed for further proceedings on 10.02.2020.

---

---

Issues:
1. Challenge to order taking cognizance under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
2. Challenge to order issuing arrest warrants.

Analysis:
The Supreme Court dealt with two sets of applications in the present Special Leave Petitions (SLPs). The first set challenged the order taking cognizance of offenses under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The second set pertained to the order issuing arrest warrants to secure the presence of the accused. It was noted that the petitioners, represented by learned Senior Advocates, did not contest the order related to the first set of applications.

Regarding the order under appeal that rejected the revision applications challenging the order taking cognizance, the Court confirmed the decision and dismissed SLP (Crl.) No. 784/2020 accordingly. However, the Court kept the questions of law open for future consideration. As for the second set of applications, the Court issued a notice returnable on 10.02.2020 for SLP (Crl.) Nos. 792/2020 & 909/2020.

During the proceedings, the respondent-Union of India was represented by Mr. Zoheb Hossain, who accepted the notice on behalf of the respondent. The learned Additional Solicitor General (ASG) requested and was granted three days to file an affidavit in reply, detailing the extent of cooperation by the accused concerning the requisitions made by the Investigating Machinery.

Furthermore, the Court ordered a stay of the non-bailable warrant issued by the lower court pending further consideration. The case was listed for further consideration on 10.02.2020, indicating that the matter would be revisited at a later date for additional proceedings and deliberations.

---