Prima facie material under PMLA supports continuation of prosecution; factual disputes cannot be settled at the quashing stage.

Prima facie material linking seized cash, gold and documents to alleged proceeds of crime was treated as sufficient to continue proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The High Court noted that statements recorded under Section 50 of the Act and the altered police case record disclosed a link between the assets and the predicate offences, so the complaint could not be quashed at the threshold. Disputed questions of fact and the evidentiary value of the prosecution case were held to be matters for trial, not for determination in a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

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Issues: Whether the complaint and prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 should be quashed for want of prima facie material and on the ground that the Court cannot enter into disputed questions of fact at the stage of proceedings under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: The complaint was founded on the seizure of substantial cash, gold and documents, the alteration of the underlying police case, and the statements recorded from the accused under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Those statements attributed the seized assets to proceeds generated through illegal activities and disclosed a link between the money and the alleged predicate offences. In that background, the materials were sufficient at the threshold to proceed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. A petition for quashing could not be used to resolve disputed factual questions or to test the evidentiary value of the prosecution case before trial.

Conclusion: The request to quash the complaint failed, and the prosecution was allowed to proceed before the trial Court.

Final Conclusion: The petitioners were left to raise their contentions before the trial Court after charges are framed, but no interference was warranted at the quashing stage.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the record discloses prima facie material connecting seized assets to alleged proceeds of crime, the High Court will not quash a prosecution under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 merely because the accused dispute those facts.

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