TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (11) TMI 753
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....as lodged alleging therein that the petitioner was posted as Deputy Commissioner in Khunti district during the period 16.02.2009 to 19.07.2010 where she was the principal authority for sanctioning of fund for different development projects. The co accused Ram Binod Prasad Sinha was posted as Junior Engineer during that period in Special Division as well as District Board, Khunti and has stated in his statement recorded under section 50 of PMLA that he used to pay 5% of the disbursed amount as commission to DRDA and Deputy Commissioner Office and extra commission of 5% to the Executive Engineer and Asst. Engineer. He has also stated that the commission was paid for smooth functioning from beginning i.e. allocation of work to till end i.e. payment of final instalment. It is alleged that in the prosecution case that the petitioner being the principal authority for sanctioning of fund for different development projects, in connivance with co accused Jai Kishore Chaudhary,. Executive Engineer, Special Division, Shashi Prakash, Executive Engineer, District Board, Rajendra Kumar Jain, Assistant Engineer, and Ram Binod Prasad Sinha, Junior Engineer, managed to do defalcation of funds in di....
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.... those accounts and convert the cash to demand draft and then purchased insurance policies for long tenures and pre maturely close the policies and utilize the proceeds towards several investments including Pulse Super speciality Hospital beneficially owned by her and her family. The materials submitted by the prosecution reveals that the search proceedings were conducted at different locations/premises related to the petitioner and her associates and it is stated that during the course of search huge cash amounting to Rs.19.76 crores (approx.) was recovered and seized. Apart from that documents/records/digital devices etc. related to the matter were also found and seized. Some movable properties in the form of high end vehicles were also found during the course of search from the premises of Suman Kumar who is a C.A. by profession and associated with the petitioner and her husband. The legitimate source of such income/money could not be explained by the accused Suman Kumar, the same were seized. He disclosed in his statement before E.D that most of the cash seized from his premises belongs to Pooja Singhal (petitioner), which was kept in his house and office, on her behalf. Furthe....
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.... It is app arent from the prosecution complaint that by depositing huge cash, much beyond the sources of his income, and by incorporating M/s Pulse Sanjeevani Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. assisted the activity of money laundering by involving himself in the concealment, possession, acquisition, use, projection as well as claiming the untainted money. Hence, the prosecution complaint has been filed against the petitioner and others. Mr. Indrajit Sinha, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner at the outset draws the attention of the Court to the directions of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Others v. Union of India and Others, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 929, particularly, the conclusion paragraph 187(d) of the said judgment that the Authorities under the 2002 Act cannot prosecute any person on notional basis or on the assumption that a scheduled offence has been committed, unless it is so registered with the jurisdictional police and/or pending enquiry/trial including by way of criminal complaint before the competent forum. He submits that there are sixteen FIRs against four Engineers in the district of Khunti. He submits that this petitioner was ....
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....a criminal case is far higher than the standard of proof required to establish the guilt in the departmental proceedings. He also accepted that in the present case, the charge in the departmental proceedings and in the criminal proceedings is one and the same. He did not dispute the findings rendered in the departmental proceedings and the ultimate result of it." 10. This being the case, the Court then held: (P.S. Rajya case P.S. Rajya v. State of Bihar, (1996) 9 SCC 1 : 1996 SCC (Cri) 897] , SCC p. 9, para 23) "23. Even though all these facts including the report of the Central Vigilance Commission were brought to the notice of the High Court, unfortunately, the High Court took a view Prabhu Saran Rajya v. State of Bihar, Criminal Miscellaneous No. 5212 of 1992, order dated 3 8 1993 (Pat)] that the issues raised had to be gone into in the final proceedings and the report of the Central Vigilance Commission, exonerating the appellant of the same charge in departmental proceedings would not conclude the criminal case against the appellant. We have already held that for the reasons given, on the peculiar facts of this case, the criminal proceedings initiated against the appellant....
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....ed is exonerated before the adjudicating authority whether his prosecution on the same set of facts can be allowed or not is the precise question which falls for determination in this case." 12. After referring to various judgments, this Court then culled out the ratio of those decisions in para 38 as follows: Radheshyam Kejriwal case Radheshyam Kejriwal v. State of W.B. B., (2011) 3 SCC 581 : (2011) 2 SCC (Cri) 721] , SCC p. 38. The ratio which can be culled out from these decisions can broadly be stated as follows: i) Adjudication proceedings and criminal prosecution can be launched simultaneously; ii) Decision in adjudication proceedings is not necessary before initiating criminal prosecution; iii) Adjudication proceedings and criminal proceedings are independent in nature to each other; iv) The finding against the person facing prosecution in the adjudication proceedings is not binding on the proceeding for criminal prosecution; v) Adjudication proceedings by the Enforcement Director ate is not prosecution by a competent court of law to attract the provisions of Article 20(2) of the Constitution or Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; vi) The finding i....
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....disclosed by the E.D that the petitioner used to purchase insurance policies and prematurely close that policies and withdrew the amount, that does not show that the investment made in the insurance policy are the money from the proceeds of crime. He further draws the attention of the court to paragraph no.11 of the complaint and submits that the role of the accused in the offence of money laundering has been disclosed and the points raised against this petitioner is not correct. He submits that this petitioner her self has constituted the committee when the irregularity has been brought to the knowledge of this petitioner. He draws the attention of the Court to section 45 of the Act particularly the proviso to sub section 2 of the Act and by way of referring the proviso he submits that the rigors of section 45 of the Act is not coming in the way of granting bail to the petitioner as the petitioner is a lady and she is suffering from several ailments. He submits that on this ground recently the Delhi High Court granted bail to one Devki Nandan Garg by order dated 26.09.2022 in the case of Devki Nandan Garg v. Directorate of Enforcement, 2022 SCC OnLine Del.3086. He further submits ....
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....5.2022. Per contra, Mr. Amit Kumar Das, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent Enforcement Directorate (E.D) submits that the petitioner is a senior I.A.S officer of the State of Jharkhand and once she is granted bail there is every likelihood that she will temper with the evidence. He further submits that on the last occasion the co ordinate Bench of this Court has directed the E.D. to disclose as to by what time further investigation will be concluded and pursuant to that he has taken instruction and it has been informed that within further six months time the investigation shall be concluded. He submits that atleast till completion of the investigation she may not be allowed regular bail. Mr. Das, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent E.D. draws the attention of the Court to paragraph no.6.1 of the complaint and submits that brother of her C.A., Suman Kumar, namely Pawan Singh and mother of this petitioner, namely, Kamlesh Singh a l were partners in a firm in which a huge amount of Rs.1.33 crore was invested in cash which has come in the said paragraph. He further draws the attention of the Court to paragraph no.7.3 which is statement of one Vijay ....
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....s that he is having instruction that maneuvering were being made of having a false medical certificate of Angiography of this petitioner, however, that has not been happened due to presence of officers of the respondent E.D. He draws the attention of the Court to page 306 of regular bail petition dated 18.05.2022 and submits that she was examined by Medical Officer of the State and she was found well oriented stable and she was not having any medical issue. She was found healthy He submits that the case relied by Mr. Indrajit Sinha, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner in the case of Ashoo Surendra Nath Tiwary(supra) is not helping this petitioner as in the case in hand the charge s in departmental proceeding and this proceeding are completely different. He submits that the modus operandi was adopted by this petitioner by way of purchasing the insurance policy and to fraudulently close the same, withdrew the amount and invest it to another place. He draws the attention of the Court to paragraph no. 280, 281 and 282 of the case in the matter of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary(supra) and he submits that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has also held that if it is established i....
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...., (2020) 13 SCC 791, but at the same time the consideration will have to be on case to case basis on the facts involved therein and seeking the presence of the accused to stand trial. The bail are being granted on certain conditions in appropriate cases and the object of putting such conditions should be to avoid possibility by the person hampering the investigation Section 45 of the Act is no more res integra . In recent decision by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Gautam Kundu v. Directorate of Enforcement , (2015) 16 SCC 1 the Hon'ble Supreme Court has occasioned to examine paragraph nos.28 to 30, which reads as under: 28. Before dealing with the application for bail on merit, it is to be considered whether the provisions of Section 45 of PMLA are binding on the High Court while considering the application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. There is no doubt that PMLA deals with the offence of money laundering and Parliament has enacted this law as per commitment of the country to the United Nations General Assembly. PMLA is a special statute enacted by Parliament for dealing with money laundering. Section 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,....
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....the investigation and it has been elaborately discussed therein. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has considered the economic offence in the case of Subrata Chattoraj v. Union of India'', reported in (2014) 8 SCC 768, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v.C.B.I., reported in (2013) 7 SCC 439 and Union of India v. Hassan Ali Khan, reported in (2011) 10 SCC 235 and gist of those judgments speak of that economic offences having deep rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country. The a llegation prima facie suggest that it has direct link with the "proceeds of crime". In that, the property derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity relating to notified offences, termed as scheduled offence, is regarded as tainted property and dealing with such property in any manner is an offence of money laundering The modus operandi as adopted by the petitioner disclosed that she first open bank accounts for short duration, then deposited huge cash into it, then converted those cash into dem and drafts to purchase ins....