TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (9) TMI 661
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....w 4 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (for short "PMLA Act"). 2. The facts stated in the petition, in brief, are that on 11.05.2017 basing on the report of Income Tax Office, Investigation, Unit-III, Visakhapatnam, the Station House Officer, MVP Police Station, Visakhapatnam registered F.I.R No.181 of 2017 for the offences punishable under Sections 120-B, 420, 465, 468 & 471 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short "IPC") against Vaddi Mahesh and others on the allegation that in pursuance of their conspiracy created false and forged documents for the purpose of cheating and used the said false documents as genuine knowing fully well as false and made transactions in various banks fraudulently and dishonestly and had a w....
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....statements, the petitioner was arrayed as an accused. It is also stated that the petitioner was in custody for about 60 days in Central Prison, Visakhapatnam, but his statement was not recorded by the Enforcement Directorate and subsequently, on P.T. Warrant, the petitioner was produced before the Court below and remanded to judicial custody on 03.09.2020. Petitioner was granted bail under Section 167 (2) of Cr.P.C on 11.11.2019. Thereafter, again on 04.02.2020 the petitioner was detained in connection with detention order issued by the Joint Director, COFEPOSA and the petitioner is in Central Jail No.7, Tihar, New Delhi as a preventive detention detenue. The Enforcement Directorate officials visited the Central Jail No.7, examined the p....
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....ed 28.12.2020 in Crl.M.P.No.1673 of 2020 passed by the learned Special Judge. It is also stated that in pursuance of the resolution dated 12.05.2021 passed by the High Powered Committee of High Court of Andhra Pradesh, the petitioner approached the Special Judge, PMLA, Visakhapatnam for grant of interim bail for 90 days. But on 05.07.2021 the learned Special Judge dismissed the said application by observing that the petitioner already filed writ petition before the Hon'ble Apex Court in I.A.No.33033 of 2021 seeking interim bail in W.P. (Crl.) No.18 of 2021 and SLP (Crl.) No.327 of 2021, which are pending adjudication and petitioner is not supposed to approach two forums for same relief for interim bail. Thereafter on 19.07.2021, the enti....
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....a into Nepal via Customs Transit Declaration (CTD) Scheme and he was smuggling high value undeclared goods into India in those containers without paying customs duty and he was making payments to the overseas sellers of those smuggles goods. It is also stated that documents retrieved by forensic analysis revealed that the computer of the petitioner contained statements of various bank accounts of several firms showing banking transactions with companied operated by Vaddi Mahesh viz., M/s Meghana Softech Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Kaustav Exports and Imports Pvt. Ltd. It is stated that funds transferred to the above said companies in Singapore and Hongkong were further transferred to other companies in Singapore and Hongkong viz., M/s Swiss Fox Pv....
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....18) with effect from 19.04.2018, but however the original Section 45 (1)(ii) has not been revived or resurrected by the said Amendment Act and further, the amending Section 45 (1) of PMLA Act, which came into effect from 19.04.2018 is silent about its retrospective applicability. Hence, as of today, there is no rigor of said two further limitations under original Section 45(1)(ii) of PMLA Act for releasing a person on bail under the said Act. 6. Learned senior counsel submits that the petitioner has nothing to do with the companies either in India or abroad and the accused Vaddi Mahesh himself admitted the ownership of various companies, as such the petitioner has been implicated in this case without any basis. He submits that the petiti....
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....crime. 9. Learned Standing Counsel submits that Hon'ble Apex Court in catena of cases observed that while granting bail the Court has to keep in mind the nature of accusation, the nature of evidence in support thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witness being tampered with and the larger interest of Public/State. He submits that the economic offences are class apart. The present case involves hundreds of crores. These kind of cases will have larger impact on the economy of the country and have to be treated separately. He re....