TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (7) TMI 189
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....Sections 3/4 of PMLA. 2. The case of the prosecution, as discerned from the impugned order and the ECIR No. DLZO-I/35/2022, is that a case was registered against Amanatullah Khan, a Member of Legislative Assembly ('MLA') of Delhi, as well as Mr. Mahboob Alam, the then CEO of Delhi Waqf Board ('DWB') and other unknown persons, in relation to the predicate offence's case registered against the accused persons i.e. FIR No. 9(A) dated 23.11.2016, registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation ('CBI'), AC-III, New Delhi for offences punishable under Section 120B of Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC') and Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 ('PC Act'). Thereafter, the following cases were also clubbed in the present ECIR: (i) FIR no. 05, dated 28.01.2020, P.S. Anti-Corruption Bureau of Delhi Police, under Section 7 of the PC Act, read with Section 120B of IPC; (ii) FIR no. 378, dated 16.09.2022, P.S. Jamia Nagar, under Sections 25, 54 & 59 of The Arms Act, 1959, and (iii) FIR no. 380 dated 16.09.2022, PS Jamia Nagar, u/s 25, 54 & 59 of The Arms Act, 1959. 3. In the present ECIR, after investigation, the Direct....
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....land worth crores of rupees. iv. Moreover, the accused/applicant Daud Nasir had allegedly paid about Rs. 6.54 crores, out of which Rs. 4.32 crores had been paid in cash and Rs. 2.22 crores had been transferred through banking channels. During investigation, his Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and Balance Sheets were also analyzed and it was revealed that he had declared a Gross Total Income of about Rs. 5 to 7 lacs only, and on the basis of this income, it was implausible that applicant Daud Nasir could have financed the acquisition of land valued at Rs. 36 crores. v. Further during investigation, it was revealed that co-accused Jawed Imam Siddiqui was the owner of properties in question, which were acquired in the name of his wife, Ms. Ayesha Quamar. It is also alleged that the accused persons had orchestrated a false and fabricated Agreement to Sell dated 17.09.2021, indicating a total sale consideration of Rs. 13.40 crores, with the intent to mislead the investigation. vi. It is also alleged that through the aforementioned agreement, the applicants Zeeshan Haider and Daud Nasir have allegedly acted as benamidars for Amanatullah Khan. With the intention to co....
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....manatullah Khan. 8. Sh. Bhardwaj, learned counsel for the applicant further argues that the Directorate of Enforcement has failed to establish any causal link between the proceeds of crime and the applicant. He argues that the alleged laundered amount has no nexus with the investigation done qua the predicate offence. It is also argued that the case of the Directorate of Enforcement is solely based on statements made by the witnesses or co-accused under Section 50 of PMLA and that the prosecution complaint filed by the Directorate of Enforcement does not put forth a single document which corroborates their statements. Further, the diary entries relied upon by the agency do not pass the test laid down in case of CBI v. V.C. Shukla (1998) 3 SCC 410 as diary entries are not admissible evidence. It is further argued that the recovery memo in this case has no mention of any 'white diary'. 9. It is also argued that the Directorate of Enforcement has no jurisdiction to commence or continue the investigation against the applicant herein, as the instant ECIR is nothing but gross abuse of process of law. The offence punishable under Section 3 of the PMLA is dependent upon the illegal g....
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....h as to how the alleged amount laundered by the present applicant is 'proceeds of crime' since the applicant at the time of investigation had provided his bank account statements, wherein he had taken loan amounts from people who wanted to invest their money in his construction business. The alleged laundered amount has no nexus with the predicate offence cases and 'proceeds of crime' is a sine qua non for the commission of the offence of money laundering. It is further argued that as per case of the Directorate of Enforcement, the applicant's role has been limited to his act of purchasing the property bearing no. 275 and 276. As per the investigating agency, the diary seized from the premises of co-accused Kausar Imam Siddiqui had revealed that a sum of Rs. 36 crores, out of which Rs. 27 crores had been paid in cash and Rs. 9 crores had been paid through bank, was involved in the alleged transaction. On the other hand, it is alleged that the applicant i.e., Daud Nasir had paid Rs. 4.52 crores in cash and co-accused Zeeshan Haider had paid an amount of Rs. 8.9 crores in cash. Thus, the total cash involved, as per the diary is Rs 13.42 crores, which in itself casts doubts on the adm....
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.... is no mention of any payment being made by the applicant to Amantullah Khan or vice versa. Even if the seized diary is considered to be authentic and genuine, the transaction details concerning the applicant only pertain to the amount paid by the applicant. It is pertinent to mention that, even after referring to the said transaction in the seized diary, it cannot be concluded that there was any connection between the applicant and the alleged main conspirator, Amanatullah Khan. Therefore, the applicant is wrongly associated with money laundering involving the 'proceeds of crime' generated through the alleged misuse of Delhi Waqf Board funds. Furthermore, it is submitted that the record clearly shows there is no link whatsoever between the allegations made by the Directorate of Enforcement and the predicate offence thoroughly investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. 14. It is further argued that this Court is only required to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of such an offence and he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. Thus in light of the same, the applicant herein fulfils the twin conditions....
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....ut bringing the patient and patient was not willing for surgery. The ground on which interim bail was, thus, granted to Daud Nasir was surgery of his wife relating to decompression and fixation of slip disc at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi, but the alleged surgery was performed on 21.05.2024 at Aadhyal Multispecialty Hospital which instead was related to dermoid cyst at lumbosacral region which is a minor surgery. Moreover, the surgery was performed at the Aadhyal Multispecialty Hospital which was also concealed from this Court. It is submitted that the applicant Daud Nasir had deliberately and maliciously suppressed and concealed the material facts from this Court on the basis of which accused Daud Nasir had sought release on Interim Bail. Therefore, on this ground alone his regular bail application be dismissed. 16. Even otherwise, it is argued that the material placed on record by the Directorate of Enforcement is sufficient to persuade this court that no satisfaction, as required under Section 45 of the PMLA, can be reached. It is argued that at this stage, the Court is not required to render a finding of guilt, nor it is required to conduct a mini-trial or metic....
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....rough banks, which are mentioned in the diary, match with the corresponding bank account statements of the sellers of the property. Similarly, certain cash transactions mentioned in the diary also match with the cash deposits made in the bank accounts of Jawed Imam Siddiqui and Ayesha Quamar. It, thus, corroborates the contents of the seized diary which show that the total amount of consideration for purchasing the property in question was Rs. 36 crores, and therefore, the agreement showing the sale consideration amount as Rs. 13.4 crore was a false and fabricated agreement, which had been created at a later stage to mislead the investigation and to conceal the actual sale transaction value, so that the cash amounting to Rs. 27 crore could be infused in the property. It is also pointed out that the seizure memo in this case clearly mentions about recovery/seizure of one 'executive diary' which is the white diary in this case. In conclusion, it is argued that in the present case, ample evidence has been presented to prima facie establish that both the applicants have engaged themselves in money laundering activities by participating in processes or activities related to scheduled of....
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....e being in force on granting of bail. Explanation.--For the removal of doubts, it is clarified that the expression "Offences to be cognizable and non-bailable" shall mean and shall be deemed to have always meant that all offences under this Act shall be cognizable offences and non-bailable offences notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), and accordingly the officers authorised under this Act are empowered to arrest an accused without warrant, subject to the fulfillment of conditions under section 19 and subject to the conditions enshrined under this section." (emphasis supplied) 22. Section 45 (1) of PMLA lists the twin conditions that must be satisfied before an accused can be enlarged on bail in a case of money laundering. In this context, it will also be relevant to take note of the observations of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India 2022 SCC OnLine SC 929, on the satisfaction of mandatory twin conditions under Section 45 of PMLA, which are extracted hereunder: "387. Having said thus, we must now address the challenge to the twin conditions as applic....
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....s provided under Section 45 impose absolute restraint on the grant of bail. The discretion vests in the Court which is not arbitrary or irrational but judicial, guided by the principles of law as provided under Section 45 of the 2002 Act. *** 401. We are in agreement with the observation made by the Court in Ranjitsing Brahmajeetsing Sharma. The Court while dealing with the application for grant of bail need not delve deep into the merits of the case and only a view of the Court based on available material on record is required. The Court will not weigh the evidence to find the guilt of the accused which is, of course, the work of Trial Court. The Court is only required to place its view based on probability on the basis of reasonable material collected during investigation and the said view will not be taken into consideration by the Trial Court in recording its finding of the guilt or acquittal during trial which is based on the evidence adduced during the trial. As explained by this Court in Prasad Nimmagadda, the words used in Section 45 of the 2002 Act are "reasonable grounds for believing" which means the Court has to see only if there is a genuine case agai....
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....h Khan, while the remaining amount was handled by both the applicant/accused i.e., Daud Nasir, Zeeshan Haider and others. Further as per the case of the Directorate of Enforcement co-accused Jawed Imam Siddiqui owned properties Plot Nos. 275 and 276, TTI, Tikona Park, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, totaling about 1200 square yards, in the name of his wife, Ayesha Quamar. These properties were purchased from Syed Ahmed Raza Zaidi, Ms. Samina Zaidi, Heba Zaidi Khosla, and Aashti Zaidi, through Conveyance Deeds numbered 2005 and 2004, both dated 12.04.2019. These properties were then transferred to both the applicants i.e., Zeeshan Haider and Daud Nasir, close associates of Amanatullah Khan, in 2021 through an Agreement to Sell dated 17.09.2021. According to the version of the accused persons, agreement dated 17.09.2021 was purportedly executed between the seller Ayesha Quamar and the purchaser i.e. M/s. Sky Powers i.e. a firm owned by applicant Zeeshan Haider, as well as Sara Constructions, a proprietorship of applicant Daud Nasir. In this agreement, the sale consideration was mentioned as Rs. 13.40 crores out of which Rs. 5 crores were shown to have been paid through bank transactions and ....
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....e declared as proceeds from the property sale. The prosecution asserts that the bank transactions recorded in the diary align with the sellers' bank statements. Similarly, certain cash transactions in the diary match the cash deposits in the sellers' accounts, corroborating the diary's contents and indicating that the actual sale amount was Rs. 36 crores. Thus, prima facie the agreement of Rs. 13.4 crore was created to conceal Rs. 27 crore cash component, which is considered the 'proceeds of crime'. 30. Further, the bank accounts statement of present applicant/ accused Daud Nasir, who purportedly paid Rs. 6.54 crore (Rs. 2.2 crore via bank and Rs. 4.32 crore in cash), revealed that his firm had an annual income of only Rs. 5-7 lakh, making such a purchase impossible. Similarly, the other applicant/accused i.e., Zeeshan Haider, who had allegedly paid Rs. 12.3 crore (Rs. 3.4 crore via bank and Rs. 8.9 crore in cash), had a gross income of Rs. 3-4 lakh annually and Rs. 10 lakh in 2019-20. His firm, M/s. Sky Powers, had no income during the relevant period, making the property purchase impossible. The diary also shows applicant Zeeshan Haider's signature on the Rs. 36 crore transact....
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....lly, numerous documents were collected from various government and private institutions. Among these, a white diary was seized from co-accused Kausar Imam Siddiqui, which revealed substantial cash transactions running in crores of rupees between Javed Imam, Amanatullah Khan, both the present accused/applicant Zeeshan Haider and Daud Nasir. These transactions, related to the property in question, were both in cash and through banking channels, totaling approximately Rs. 36 crores. The seizure of the diary by the investigating agency reveals that the properties in question were purchased for about Rs. 36 crore out of which Rs. 27 crore were paid in cash out of the total amount of Rs. 36 crore. Furthermore, the recovery of one sale agreement which shows the sale consideration as Rs. 36 crores, as against one alleged false and fabricated agreement shows the sale consideration of Rs. 13.40 crore had been allegedly prepared to conceal the proceeds of crime and misguide the investigating agencies. The bank account statements of the sellers of the properties in question, prima facie corroborate the factum of the sale agreement having consideration of Rs. 36 crores being genuine and the agr....