TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (6) TMI 588
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....India (Cr. Appeal nos. 3051 and 3052 of 2023) and declare that:- (i) The authorised person issuing Summon under Section 50(2) must record in writing the reasons why he considers necessary the attendance of person to whom Summon is issued: (ii) The writing recording the reason to belief that attendance is necessary before issuance of Summon under Section 50(2) must be dated, sealed and preserved so that the same be made available to the competent Court when called for; 1AA. Declare the arrest and consequent detention of the Petitioner as unwarranted, arbitrary, illegal and violative of the fundamental right of the petitioner guaranteed and protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and direct the Respondent to forthwith set the Petitioner free. 1AB. Declare the order dated 02.02.2024 passed by PMLA Court in the said proceeding sending the Petitioner for remand is arbitrary and illegal. b. Issue appropriate writ, order or direction to hold and declare the action of the respondents in issuing summons dated 7.8.23, 18.8.2023, 31.8.2023, 11.09.2023, 25.09.2023, 10.12.2023, 29.12.2023, 16.1.12024, 22.1.2024, 25.1.2024 in relation to ECIR/RNZO/25/2023 as grossl....
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....Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case." 2. The petitioner, a 2-time Chief Minister of Jharkhand, was arrested on the evening of 31st January 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate [in short, ED]. He has challenged the remand order dated 2nd February 2024 and, in connection thereto, questions the summons that does not provide any details of a predicate offence or any other information regarding his involvement with the proceeds of crime. He has pleaded that the ED is acting beyond its jurisdiction and summons are issued to him out of malice and to harass, humiliate and intimidate him. The ED started its expedition in October 2022 and issued a summons on 31st October 2022 seeking his explanation in the illegal mining case. That was followed by another summons dated 9th November 2022 on a similar allegation. In compliance thereof, he attended the office of the ED on 17th November 2022 for the recording of his statement. On that day, he was questioned about his assets for over nine hours and as required by the ED furnished complete details of the assets owned by him and his family members and provided certified copies of the title deeds t....
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....accounts and PAN number. The petitioner raises a question also to the jurisdiction of the ED to investigate the offence of money-laundering by starting a fresh inquiry into the assets acquired by him more than 15 years ago which were duly reported to and accepted by the Income Tax Authority as legally acquired property. The petitioner apprehends that this is part of the game plan of the BJP to wreck political vendetta against the Opposition leaders who have united to form INDIA Alliance in which he and his party are vocal participants. 5. In its affidavit-in-opposition, the ED referred to the raids conducted at several places on 13th April 2023 and 26th April 2023 in the course of which seventeen Register-II and eleven trunks full of tampered deeds and documents were seized. Several persons thereafter came forward and gave statements under section 50 of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 [in short, "PMLA"] claiming themselves owners of the properties that were illegally grabbed by others. According to the ED, there are at least three persons who produced documents in support of their claim over a part of the property at Bargai measuring about 8.46 acres (hereinafter refe....
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....hat the concerned original register II had been seized from his premises during searches dated 13.04.2023. It was seen that the total land was distributed in several plots and khatas and as per online information and available information in their domain, the entire land has been shown amongst several owners. The online records available with circle officer appears contradictory. The plot was shown to be registered in name of following different persons, but all the plots are located inside a common boundary which clearly shows the control and occupation of a single person. Khata Plot Area Khatiyan Register II Page No. Geo- graphical status 221 983 0.21 acres Gair Bhuinhari Not available Inside the boundary 985 1.16 acres Gair Bhuinhari Not available Inside the boundary 987 0.96 acres Gair Bhuinhari 1. Kush Kumar Bhagat and other 80 decimals (338 R 27 /87-88/17.3.88) 2. Budhan Ram, Jageshwar Ram 16 decimals (419R27 /78-79/24.04.78) Inside the boundary 210 984 0.30 acres Bakaast Bhuinhari Not available Inside the boundary 109 986 1.09 acres Lodha Pahan, s/o Birsa Pahan Lodha Pahan, s/o Birsa Pahan 1....
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....e PMLA and searched his official residence at Shanti Niketan, New Delhi around 7:00 PM on 29th January 2024. However, the petitioner was not found there and it was learned that he had secretly left the premises around 2:00 AM at midnight and therefore the search was conducted in the presence of his staff and other persons present there. The conduct of the petitioner is also criticized for lodging a criminal case on 31st January 2024 vide FIR No. 6 of 2024 under section 3(1)(p)(r)(s)(u) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against the officers of the ED who had searched his Delhi residence. He also made a complaint against the officials of the Central Reserve Police Force who were providing support to the ED officials during the recording of his statement on 20th January 2024. In course of the search at New Delhi, the following articles/items were recovered and sealed by the ED on 29th January 2024: a. cash amounting to Rs. 36,34,500/-. b. the information shared to the State of Jharkhand under section 66(2) of PMLA, 2002 for taking necessary actions in the matter of recovery of the duplicate seals and stamps of various offices includi....
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....dated 11.09.2023 and issuing further summons to the Petitioner in the nature of the summons impugned herein; d. Issue rule nisi in terms of prayers (a) to (c) above; e. Direction restraining the Respondent no.2 from giving any or further effect to or acting pursuant to or issuing any further summons to the Petitioner in the nature of the summons impugned herein till the disposal of the present writ petition; f. Interim and ad interim orders in terms of prayers above; g. Pass such other and further order or reliefs as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case." 9. The summons dated 7th August 2023, 18th August 2023, 31st August 2023 and 11th September 2023 were challenged in W.P.(Cr.) No.787 of 2023; these are also challenged in this writ petition. The petitioner put forth a ground that for good reasons he could not appear before the ED However, before a decision was rendered in the writ petition the date of his appearance indicated in the summons had passed and the writ petition was dismissed observing that it had been rendered infructuous. 10. By an order dated 13th October 2023, a co-ordinate Bench of this Court dismissed ....
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....urisdiction of the ED to register ECIR and make inquiries against him. Mr. S. V. Raju, the learned Additional Solicitor General next contended that after the amendment the writ petition had been transformed into a Habeas Corpus petition which is not entertainable by the writ Court in the face of the remand orders dated 2nd February 2024, 7th February 2024 and 12th February 2024. The learned ASG submitted that the remand orders dated 7th February 2024 and 12th February 2024 are not under challenge and no relief can be granted to the petitioner in the present proceeding. The ED maintained that the petitioner can avail the remedy under section 45 of the PMLA read with section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by filing a petition for regular bail in the Special Court (PMLA) at Ranchi and cannot move this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India by short-circuiting the statutory regime. The learned ASG referred to "Rahul Modi" (supra) and other judgments to submit that the petitioner who was remanded to police/judicial custody by a judicial order cannot maintain a Habeas Corpus petition in the High Court. In "Rahul Modi" [Serious Fraud Investigation Office v. Rahul Modi....
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....ssing the order." 12. A Habeas Corpus proceeding is laid on the foundation of illegal detention. In "Tasneem Rizwan Siddiquee" [State of Maharashtra v. Tasneem Rizwan Siddiquee: (2018) 9 SCC 745] the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that a plea of illegal detention loses its sting when the person goes to police or judicial custody under an order passed by the jurisdictional Magistrate and no writ of Habeas Corpus can be issued. In "Manubhai Ratilal Patel" [Manubhai Ratilal Patel v. State of Gujarat: (2013) 1 SCC 314] the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that a writ of Habeas Corpus is not to be entertained when a person is committed to judicial custody or police custody by the competent Court by an order which prima facie does not appear to be without jurisdiction nor passed in an absolute mechanical manner nor is wholly illegal. Later, the law on the subject was elucidated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in "V. Senthil Balaji" [V. Senthil Balaji v. State: (2024) 3 SCC 51] as under: "28. A writ of habeas corpus shall only be issued when the detention is illegal. As a matter of rule, an order of remand by a judicial officer, culminating into a judicial function cannot be challenged by way of a ....
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....rt on 21-3-2018 her husband Rizwan Alam Siddiquee was in police custody pursuant to an order passed by the Magistrate granting his police custody in connection with FIR No. I-31 vide order dated 17-3-2018 and which police remand was to enure till 23-3-2018. Further, without challenging the stated order of the Magistrate, a writ petition was filed limited to the relief of habeas corpus. In that view of the matter, it was not a case of continued illegal detention but the incumbent was in judicial custody by virtue of an order passed by the jurisdictional Magistrate, which was in force, granting police remand during investigation of a criminal case. Resultantly, no writ of habeas corpus could be issued." (emphasis supplied)" 13. Summarily put, there is no absolute taboo [Gautam Navlakha v. NIA: (2022) 13 SCC 542] against an order of remand being challenged in a Habeas Corpus petition. Even so, the prayer seeking a declaration that the arrest of the petitioner is illegal shall not convert the writ petition into a Habeas Corpus proceeding. This writ petition is not reduced to a Habeas Corpus petition merely because the remand order dated 2nd February 2024 is challenged by the petition....
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.... powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) while trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely:- (a) discovery and inspection; (b) enforcing the attendance of any person, including any officer of a reporting entity, and examining him on oath; (c) compelling the production of records; (d) receiving evidence on affidavits; (e) issuing commissions for examination of witnesses and documents; and (f) any other matter which may be prescribed. (2) The Director, Additional Director, Joint Director, Deputy Director or Assistant Director shall have power to summon any person whose attendance he considers necessary whether to give evidence or to produce any records during the course of any investigation or proceeding under this Act. (3) All the persons so summoned shall be bound to attend in person or through authorised agents, as such officer may direct, and shall be bound to state the truth upon any subject respecting which they are examined or make statements, and produce such documents as may be required. (4) Every proceeding under sub-sections (2) and (3) shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the m....
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....ngoing investigation divulging every material before filing of the prosecution complaint may create difficulties and hindrances in further investigation. The basis for raising this ground seems to be "Vijay Madanlal Choudhary" [Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India : 2022 SCC OnLine SC 929] wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the ECIR is an internal document and a copy of the ECIR may not be furnished to the person concerned apprehending arrest or even after his arrest and so long as the person has been informed about the grounds of his arrest that is sufficient compliance of the mandate under Article 22(1) of the Constitution. The Hon'ble Supreme Court held that there may be details of materials in possession of the Authority and such details cannot be revealed before the inquiry into the proceeds of crime and concerning the persons involved in the process or activity connected therewith are concluded. The Hon'ble Supreme Court held as under; "458. The next issue is : whether it is necessary to furnish copy of ECIR to the person concerned apprehending arrest or at least after his arrest? Section 19(1) of the 2002 Act postulates that after arrest, as soon as may be, ....
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....ed as violation of constitutional right. Concededly, the person arrested, in terms of Section 19 of the 2002 Act, is contemporaneously made aware about the grounds of his arrest. This is compliant with the mandate of Article 22(1) of the Constitution. It is not unknown that at times FIR does not reveal all aspects of the offence in question. In several cases, even the names of persons actually involved in the commission of offence are not mentioned in the FIR and described as unknown accused. Even, the particulars as unfolded are not fully recorded in the FIR. Despite that, the accused named in any ordinary offence is able to apply for anticipatory bail or regular bail, in which proceeding, the police papers are normally perused by the concerned Court. On the same analogy, the argument of prejudice pressed into service by the petitioners for nonsupply of ECIR deserves to be answered against the petitioners. For, the arrested person for offence of money-laundering is contemporaneously informed about the grounds of his arrest; and when produced before the Special Court, it is open to the Special Court to call upon the representative of ED to produce relevant record concerning the cas....
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....e cart before the horse. Unfortunately for the accused, this is not the scheme of the Act". 20. The purpose of registering a First Information Report is to set the machinery of law in motion. A First Information Report as its literal meaning would suggest is registered based on information to the police about the commission of a cognizable offence. At this juncture, a prosecution complaint is yet to be filed and the result of the investigation in Sadar P.S Case No. 272 of 2023 is awaited. In its official communication to the Chief Secretary, the ED stated that by falsification of the records and tampering with the documents valuable landed properties are acquired in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy. We may only indicate that section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code starts with the expression "whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy" and any direct evidence of the criminal conspiracy is hard to find. At this point in time, it is not necessary rather not possible to name all the persons who might have been involved in the crime. This is also a possibility that in course of the investigation further information about the commission of other crimes is gathered. This is therefore....
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....ments related to landed properties including several deeds: 3. Investigation conducted by this office has revealed that several entries/pages of the above registers (पंजी-II) have been tampered and original records have been falsified. Investigation has also revealed that names of several persons have been erased from the said registers and fresh entries have been made to extend undue favours to some private persons. 4. In some of the registers, certain pages are seen blank but online entries have been made in name of some persons and some specific properties for facilitating some brokers and private parties to acquire big pieces of land. However, since searches were conducted and the registers were recovered and seized, the physical entries could not be completed in those registers. 5. In several cases, the nature of lands has been changed by manufacturing false and back dated deeds. During course of investigation, hand written notes/diaries, mobile phones have also been seized which contain entries corroborating cash payment to the accused Bhanu Pratap Prasad and other officials. Tainted cash amounting to Rs 3,97,800/-lac was also seized from t....
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....ra 290 in case of Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary & others (2022 SCC Online SC 929) 9. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in its order dated 12.11.2013 in the case of Lalita Kumari Vs. Govt. of Uttar Pradesh and others in W.P (Crl.) No. 68 of 2008 and others has categorically asserted on the significance and compelling reasons for registration of FIR at the earliest. The Hon'ble court has stated as under; 93. The underpinnings of compulsory registration of FIR is not only to ensure transparency in the criminal justice-delivery system but also to ensure "judicial oversight". Section 157(1) deploys the word "forthwith", Thus, any information received under Section 154(1) or otherwise has to be duly informed in the form of a report to the Magistrate. Thus, the commission of a cognizable offence is not only brought to the knowledge of the investigating agency but also to the subordinate judiciary. 105. Therefore, reading Section 154 in any other form would not only be detrimental to the scheme of the Code but also to the society as a whole. It is thus seen that this Court has repeatedly held in various decided cases that registration of FIR is mandatory if the information given ....
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....endeavored to show how the ED started sending summons to the petitioner for recording his statement under section 50 and in hot haste the statement of witnesses was recorded within two days. In simple words, the submission is that the present proceeding against the petitioner is part of a political vendetta and lacks bonafide. Per contra, the learned ASG referred to the search and seizure proceedings and the order passed by the SAR Court to demonstrate that there was illegal tampering in the official records. It is submitted that the Register-II itself is a property derived from the commission of scheduled offences and covered under the definition of the proceeds of crime. The continued illegal occupation, use and possession of the petitioner over the subject property is a continuing offence and it is immaterial that a complaint by the aggrieved party came to be filed several years after the subject property was forcefully grabbed by him. According to the learned ASG, the relevant date shall be the date on which the petitioner was found in illegal possession, occupation and use of the subject property. In the affidavit-in-opposition, the ED took the following stand: "Offence of M....
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....tween them. 54. That, the above stated WhatsApp chat not only include the exchange of confidential information regarding several properties but other incriminating information relating to transfer posting, sharing of government records etc. out of which huge amount of money appears to have been generated and transacted, In addition to this, Binod Singh have Whatsapp Chats with several other persons in relation to transfer posting of officials, possession and sharing of several admit cards of students appearing for competitive exams held by Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission etc." 24. The points canvassed on behalf of the petitioner were debated before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and are conclusively answered in "Vijay Madanlal Choudhary" (supra). This is hardly necessary to indicate that our judicial system is founded on judicial discipline, propriety and decorum. For, it is really necessary to instill faith in the judicial system and ensure that consistency and certainty in the judicial decisions are maintained. The doctrine of binding precedent which promotes certainty and consistency in judicial decisions is of utmost importance in the administration of judicial system. Artic....
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....have been committed before the same had been notified as scheduled offence for the purpose of the 2002 Act, but if a person has indulged in or continues to indulge directly or indirectly in dealing with proceeds of crime, derived or obtained from such criminal activity even after it has been notified as scheduled offence, may be liable to be prosecuted for offence of money-laundering under the 2002 Act - for continuing to possess or conceal the proceeds of crime (fully or in part) or retaining possession thereof or uses it in trenches until fully exhausted. The offence of money-laundering is not dependent on or linked to the date on which the scheduled offence or if we may say so the predicate offence has been committed. The relevant date is the date on which the person indulges in the process or activity connected with such proceeds of crime. These ingredients are intrinsic in the original provision (Section 3, as amended until 2013 and were in force till 31.7.2019); and the same has been merely explained and clarified by way of Explanation vide Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019. Thus understood, inclusion of Clause (ii) in Explanation inserted in 2019 is of no consequence as it does not ....
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....e process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime; and such process and activity in a given factsituation may be a continuing offence irrespective of the date and time of the commission of the scheduled offence. By way of an example, it has been clarified that the criminal activity committed even before the same was notified as the scheduled offence for the PMLA may still attract the offence of money-laundering if the person has indulged in or continued to indulge directly or indirectly in dealing with the proceeds of crime, derived or obtained from such criminal activity even after the same was notified as a scheduled offence. Completely in tune with this decision, "Tarun Kumar" [Tarun Kumar v. Assistant Director Directorate of Enforcement : 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1486] holds that the relevant date for examining the involvement of the person in money-laundering is the date on which the person indulges in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and the offence of money-laundering is not dependent or linked to the date on which the scheduled offence or predicate offence has been committed. However, the basis for the argument made on behalf of the petitioner....
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....of them. There are, however, certain verities which are of the essence of the rule of law and no law can afford to do away with them. At the same time it has to be recognized that there is a continuing process of the growth of law and one can retard it only at the risk of alienating law from life itself. ..." 27. But the choice is difficult and the problem is perennial. The choice in choosing between a literal interpretation and a purposive interpretation of a statutory provision brings to the fore the basic task of the Court. The primary duty of the Court is to creatively interpret the law and resolve the conflict in the legislative intention and the difficulty in the working of law by taking into account the object and real intention of the Legislature. In doing so, the Court may sometimes be required to adopt a functional approach and look into the intention of the Legislature by going beyond and behind the words and phrases used thereunder. The PMLA is a relatively new enactment. Till date, there is just one concluded trial and the other cases seem to be stuck in the legal wrangle. In the matter of interpretation of the provisions in the PMLA, we are of the view that the provi....
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.... with the petitioner has been brought on record. In our opinion, any attempt to commit a scheduled offence has to be read in section 2(1)(u) of the PMLA as the expression "any criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence" shall encompass an attempt to commit a scheduled offence. We are fortified in our view by the Explanation to section 2(1)(u) of the PMLA which clarifies that the proceeds of crime shall include any property which may directly or indirectly be derived or obtained as a result of "any criminal activity relatable to" the scheduled offence. Simply said, there is a property in possession of the petitioner and there was an attempt to forge the revenue records to give the subject property a color of licit acquisition. An attempt to commit a crime may be a single act or a series of acts but not necessarily the act which immediately leads to the commission of that crime. The act of Bhanu Pratap Prasad and others in intentionally removing the revenue records of the subject property from the Circle Office, concealment of those records in the premises of Bhanu Pratap Prasad, preserving the details of the subject property in the mobile phones, sharing of the property detai....
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....es that he lies under legal liability or, has not a certain legal right. This is the prosecution case that the petitioner is in continuing possession, use, and concealment of the properties and there are strong reasons to believe that he knowingly indulged in such processes and activities to acquire several landed properties in his name and in the name of his family members. Section 110 of the Indian Evidence Act provides that when the question is whether any person is the owner of anything of which he is shown to be in possession the burden of proving that he is not the owner is on the person who affirms that he is not the owner. The ED puts forth a stand that the survey conducted on 20th April 2023 established that the subject property is in illegal possession and use of the petitioner. The WhatsApp chats between Binod Singh and the petitioner contained the details of several other properties and transactions of huge amounts of money for transfer and posting of the government officials. Under section 24 of the PMLA, the Court shall presume that the person charged with the offence of money-laundering is involved with such proceeds of crime. The presumption under section 24 of the ....
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....he proceeds of crime under the PMLA Act; the Constitutional validity of section 19 was upheld. Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure empowers the Judicial Magistrate to authorize the detention of an accused in the custody of the police and, until the accused is committed the Court of Sessions, the Magistrate is vested with the power under section 209 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to remand an accused to custody. However, even where an order of remand is found to be illegal the accused does not get acquitted and the proceedings do not terminate. The arrest of the petitioner has to be seen in the context of the power under section 19(1) of the PMLA which can be exercised during the investigation. In "Adri Dharan Das" [Adri Dharan Das v. State of W.B. : (2005) 4 SCC 303] the Hon'ble Supreme Court indicated that there may be circumstances in which the accused may provide information leading to the discovery of material facts. In the context of the PMLA, in "V. Senthil Balaji" (supra) the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the investigation is a process that might require an accused's custody from time to time as authorized by the competent Court and no other Court is expected ....
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.... or Judicial Magistrate or a Metropolitan Magistrate, as the case may be, having jurisdiction: Provided that the period of twenty-four hours shall exclude the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Special Court or Magistrate's Court. 34. The provisions under section 19 of the PMLA are clear and unambiguous. The power of the arresting officer is well defined and his duties are prescribed under sub-sections (2) and (3). This is a fundamental rule of interpretation that if the words of a statute are themselves precise and unambiguous no more is necessary than to expound those words in their natural and ordinary sense as the words themselves shall best declare the intention of the Legislature. The expression "reason to believe" essentially turns to subjective satisfaction on the part of the arresting authority under section 19. If there are some reasonable grounds for the arresting authority to form a belief in good faith and not a mere pretense that the person is guilty of the offence that would be sufficient to give jurisdiction under section 19 and whether such grounds are adequate or not are not the matters for the Court to examine. In "Dr. Partap Sing....
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.... syndicate, involved in corrupt practices of acquiring properties forcefully as well as on the basis of false deeds, falsification of government records, tampering with original revenue documents etc. 4. It is revealed that the said Bhanu Pratap Prasad was actively involved in hatching conspiracies with other persons to acquire and conceal various properties in illegal manner including the properties which are illegally acquired and possessed by Shri Hemant Soren. The details of the properties, which are illegally acquired and possessed by Shri Hemant Soren have also been recovered from the mobile phone of Bhanu Pratap Prasad. The said list of 12 landed properties which are adjacently situated and all- together make make up a very big property of an area of about 850 decimals (8.5 acres) (Details attatched as Annexure-A) have been recovered from the mobile phone of Bhanu Pratap Prasad. The photo of the above-mentioned list of landed properties also bears certain handwritten remarks made by Bhanu Pratap Prasad, after he had made verification of those parcels of land. Investigation has revealed that this property is and has been illegally acquired and possessed by Shri Hemant Soren....
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.... of money laundering as defined under section 3 of PMLA and he is liable to be arrested under section 19 of PMLA, 2002. Accordingly, I Deovrat Jha, Assistant Director, on the reasons as stated above, have reasonable grounds to arrest Shri Hemant Soren and as such I am invoking the powers of arrest conferred upon me under section 19 of the PMLA, 2002 in the interest of ongoing investigation." 36. In the context of the plea that the arrest of the petitioner is arbitrary and illegal and the ED abused its power for extraneous considerations, this is well remembered that the allegation of malafide exercise of power in the criminal prosecution must be supported by extraneous considerations or for unauthorized purposes. This is implicit in the allegation of malafide that certain acts have been done in bad faith and to drive home this allegation this is necessary to indicate that there is a personal bias or the exercise of power is contrary to the object, requirement and conditions of a valid exercise of power. The allegation of malafide must therefore be demonstrated either by admitted or proved facts or the circumstances in the case which amply demonstrate the exercise of powers for o....
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....023, Ranchi read as under: "In view of the rival argument forwarded by the parties and on perusal of the case record, it transpires that the official complaint vide Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) No. RNZO/25/2023 has been lodged and now it is alleged that the accused has illegally possessed 8.45 acres of immovable assets in his favour and that assets has been termed as "proceeds of crime" defined u/s 2(1)(u) of PML Act 2002 that is tainted property by commissioning of Schedule Offences under PMLA, 2002 and projecting the same as untainted property, which is an offence u/s 3 and punishable u/s 4 of PMLA, 2002 (as amended). The accused, namely Hemant Soren is remanded in this case on 01.02.2024 and he is presently under judicial custody. The authorities of the Hon'ble Court relied upon by the defence while opposing the E.D. remand are related to the different facts and circumstances of the respective cases. There is a cardinal principle of the criminal justice system is that an individual/ accused must cooperate with the investigation of a case and the investigating agency and while dealing with such petition, the court has to consider the nature and gravity of th....
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....he accused should prima facie reflect the application of mind. The word "prima facie" is a Latin expression that means "at first sight". The literal translation of the Latin prima facie would be "at first phase" or "at first appearance". In legal parlance, the term "prima facie" is used to convey that there exists corroborative evidence to support a case. The role of Bhanu Pratap Prasad who was posted at Bargai Circle Office as part of a land-grabbing syndicate came into the light in the course of inquiry in ECIR No. RNZO/18/2022 which was registered for the fraudulent acquisition of 4.55 acres of defense land. On 9th February 2023, when an inquiry was conducted at Bargai Circle Office it became clear that several persons were involved in making false deeds, falsification of government records and tampering with the original revenue records to facilitate the acquisition of landed properties in a fraudulent manner. The ED has laid details of 12 properties under Khata Nos. 109, 210, 221, 223, 227 and 234 which are inside the boundary of a big chunk of plot measuring about 8.5 acres. The Register-II containing the details of Plot Nos. 983 and 985 in Khata No. 221, Plot No. 984 in Khat....