TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (1) TMI 1447
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....y of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer protection Department for the State of Chhattisgarh and was assigned the additional charge of Managing Director of the CG State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited (MARKFED) on 20.10.2022 and on 04.06.2023, he was given another additional charge as MD of Chhattisgarh State Civil Supplies Corporation. The details of his arrest are as follows: (i) The applicant was arrested on 30.04.2024 in the subject ECIR without necessary sanction from the concerned government authority. Thereafter the applicant was remanded to police custody of the ED till 04.05.2024 and again was in custody from 10.05.2024 and 15.05.2024. thereafter the applicant was remanded to judicial custody time and again and is now incarcerated in judicial custody at Raipur Central Jail. (ii) The applicant has the following criminal cases pending against him: 1. Income Tax Prosecution Complaint dated 21.08.2023 in the alleged scheduled offence under Section 277 of the Income Tax Act and Sections 181,191,193,417 and 418 of IPC. 2. ECIR/RPZO/04/2023 dated 14.10.2023 in the subject ECIR under Section 3 read with 4 of the PMLA 3. FIR No. 0....
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....cant. On 08.02.2024, the competent court took cognizance of some of the offences alleged in the IT complaint. Pertinently, the learned court declined cognizance ofhte offences under Sections 196,200,383,384,420,120-B,34 IPC and took cognizance on the offences under Sections 181,191,193,417 and 418 of IPC in which Sections 417 and 418 are scheduled offences. Since the ACB/EOW had registered the FIR inter alia against the applicant, he sought to withdraw the petition filed before this Court seeking quashing of the ECIR as well as the CIR No. 01/2024. (vi) On 22.03.2024, the applicant filed petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C seeking quashing of the ECIR and FIR No. 01/2024 wherein on 15.04.2024, notice wa issued to the respondents including the ED. On 19.04.2024, the ED registered an addendum ECIR based on the FIR No. 01/2024 registered by ACB/EOW which in turn was registered on the ED's own complaint letter dated 09.01.2024. The petition of the applicant was pending for arguments on interim relief and the ACB had filed its objections, summon was issued to him for appearing before the ACB for recording his statement on 30.04.2024. He was issued another summon by the ED for his....
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....ent appellate authority authorized to make a complaint under Section 195(4), CrPC. However, the Division Bench, referring to Lalji Haridas, made an ancillary observation that such search operation is deemed to be a "judicial proceeding" under Section 193, CrPC, and that the relevant Income Tax authority would be deemed to be a civil court for the purpose of Section 195, CrPC. This is as per the express provision made to the effect under Section 196 of the 1961 Act. 61. As adverted to hereinabove, Section 195 of the Code read as a whole unambiguously impose restrictions in the matter of lodgement of complaint qua the offences as mentioned in sub-section (1)(b) thereof in particular and therefore as a corollary, any interpretation for identifying the court/authority/forum contemplated thereby to be competent has to be in furtherance of the restraint and not in casual relaxation thereof. Consequently, therefore the exposition of the provisions of the corresponding substantive law which designs the forums or authorities and confers original and appellant jurisdiction has also to be in aid of the underlying objectives of the restrictions stipulated. Any postulation incompatible....
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.... of this authority to be the appellate forum before whom appeals from the decisions of an assessing officer or of an officer of the same rank thereto would generally and ordinarily lie even in the contingencies not referred to in particular in sub section 1 of Section 246. This is more so, to reiterate, in absence of any provision under the Act envisaging the Deputy Director of Income Tax to be an appellate forum in any eventuality beyond those contemplated in Section 246(1) of the Act. Neither the hierarchy of the income tax authorities as listed in Section 116 of the Act nor in the notification issued under Section 118 thereof, nor their duties, functions, jurisdictions as prescribed by the cognate provisions alluded hereto before, permit a deduction that in the scheme of the legislation, the Deputy Director of Income Tax has been conceived also to be an appellate forum to which appeals from the orders/decisions of the I.T.Os./assessing officers would ordinarily lie within the meaning of Section 195(4) of the Code. The Deputy Director of Income Tax (Investigation)-I Bhopal, (M.P.), in our unhesitant opinion, therefore cannot be construed to be an authority to whom appeal would or....
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....es. He contended that in respect of the ACB FIR, the same was registered/investigated without obtaining sanction under Section 17-A of the PC Act. It is further submitted that Section 409 IPC is not a scheduled offence and Section 120-B IPC cannot be a scheduled offence when it is linked to another scheduled offence. He has placed his reliance in the matter of Pavana Dibbur Vs. ED (2023) SCC OnLine SC1568, wherein it has been held that : ....Unless there is an allegation regarding a conspiracy to commit any scheduled offence, the prosecution under the PMLA cannot lie. Relying upon the proviso to Section 120A of IPC, the learned senior counsel submitted that an illegal act or a legal act by illegal means, in furtherance of an agreement, committed by any person is a sine qua non for attracting the offence of conspiracy under Section 120B of IPC. If Section 120B of IPC can be treated as a standalone offence to attract prosecution under the PMLA, by that logic, a complaint under the PMLA can be filed where the allegation is of criminal conspiracy to commit an offence which is not a scheduled offence. Therefore, she submits that the complaint against the appellant deserves to b....
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....ion 509 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).] 6. The object of Section 197(1) must be considered here. The object is to protect the public servants from prosecutions. It ensures that the public servants are not prosecuted for anything they do in the discharge of their duties. This provision is for the protection of honest and sincere officers. However, the protection is not unqualified. They can be prosecuted with a previous sanction from the appropriate government....." 9. He contended that the trial court has taken cognizance of the offence in the prosecution complaint despite the fact that no sanction had been obtained from the Central Government to prosecute the applicant. He submits that without prejudice the applicant is prima facie not guilty of the offence of money laundering and the entire case against him is based upon allegations of extortion and illegal collection of money from the rice millers in the State of CG. He contended that the entire case and allegations are unfounded and baseless. 10. The crux of the case by the ED is that the applicant was assisting the co-accused Roshan Chandrakar in running an alleged extortion racket wherein an amount of R....
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....ive of a bail plea one way or the other, they are also not wholly irrelevant and the „doctrine of parity‟ is not immaterial. As held by this court in Ashish Mittal (supra) considering the nature of the offence, where the gravamen of the offence is that several persons acting in concert have siphoned off and 'laundered' monies, it is manifestly arbitrary for the ED to have made selective arrests and arraignments. It has also been brought to the notice of this court that Sanjay Godhwani, who may be viewed as one of the main accused in this case, has been granted bail by the learned trial court vide order dated 09.05.2023 in Bail Application No. 688/2023 "... on merits as well as on medical grounds...". This circumstance must also weigh in favour of the petitioner being granted bail, considering that his role in the allegedly offending transactions is evidently far more peripheral than that of co- accused, Sanjay Godhwani." (emphasis supplied) 96. This being the position, the petitioner is also entitled to the benefit of the fact that the main accused, as well as, some other accused have not been arrested and bail has already been granted to other co-accused. ....
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....idence against the applicant. He further contended that the applicant was given the charge of MD, MARKFED in the month of October 2022 and therefore he had no role in the said alleged offence. The allegation that the applicant purposely kept bills of rice millers pending till they paid the alleged kickback amount, with regard to this he contended that on the one hand, it is alleged that the applicant had directed the DMOs to forward the bills of only those rice millers who had paid the kickback amount and on the other hand, it is alleged that he used to keep the bills pending at MARKFED till the amount was paid. It is a settled law that in case of contradictions in the statements of the persons recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA and are inconsistent with each other on material aspects then such contradictions and inconsistencies will be one of the factors that will ensure to the benefit of the bail applicant while ascertaining the broad probabilities. He has placed his reliance in the matter of Sanjay Jain Vs. Directorate of Enforcement (2024) SCC OnLine Del 1656, wherein it has been held as under: 56. The principle that emerges from Vijay Madanlal Choudhary (supra), as....
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....l.) No. 5416 of 2024 date 28.08.2024, in which it has been held as under: 37. Being a co-accused with the appellant, his statement against the appellant assuming there is anything incriminating against the present appellant will not have the character of substantive evidence. The prosecution cannot start with such a statement to establish its case. We hold that, in such a situation, the law laid down under Section 30 of the Evidence Act by this Court while dealing with the confession of the co-accused will continue to apply. In Kashmira Singh vs. State of Madhya Pradesh, [1952] SCR 526, this Court neatly summarized the principle as under:- ".... The proper way to approach a case of this kind is, first, to marshal the evidence against the accused excluding the confession altogether from consideration and see whether, if it is believed, a conviction could safely be based on it. If it is capable of belief independently of the confession, then of course it is not necessary to call the confession in aid. But cases may arise where the judge is not prepared to act on the other evidence as it stands even though, if believed, it would be sufficient to sustain a conviction.....
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....es where the persons have implicated themselves as well in so far as the commission of the alleged offences are concerned and as such are in the nature of co-accused persons. As per settled law, statement of a co-accused person is an extremely weak piece of evidence and cannot be treated as substantive evidence against the other co-accused persons. Therefore all the statements recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA sought to be relied upon by the ED to substantiate its allegations against the applicant are inadmissible and ought not have formed the basis for denial of bail. He has placed his reliance in the matters of Prem Prakash Vs. ED, SLP (Crl.) No. 5416 of 2024 dated 28.08.2024 ; Haricharan Kurmi Vs State of Bihar, AIR 1964 SC 1184 and Parasmal Lodha Vs. Directorate of Enforcement (2017) SCC OnLine Del 8676. In Haricharan Kurmi (supra), it has been held as under: "13. As we have already indicated. this question has been considered on several occasions by judicial decisions and it has been consistently held that a confession cannot be treated as evidence which is substantive evidence against a co-accused person. in dealing with a criminal case where the prosecution reli....
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....rovisions of s. 30, the fact remains that it is not evidence as defined by s. 3 of the Act. The result, therefore, is that in dealing with a case against an accused person, the court cannot start with the confession of a co-accused person; it must (1) (1911) I.L.R. 38 Cal. 559 at p. 588. (2) (1913) I.L.R. 54 Mad. 75 at p. 77. (3) (1949) 76 I.A. 147 at p. 155. begin with other evidence adduced by the prosecution and after it has formed its opinion with regard to the quality and effect of the said evidence, then it is permissible to turn to the confession in order to receive assurance to the conclusion of guilt which the judicial mind is about to reach on the said other evidence. That, briefly stated, is the effect of the provisions contained in s. 30. The same view has been expressed by this Court in Kashmira Singh v. State of Madhya Pradesh(1) where the decision of the Privy Council in Bhuboni Sahu's(2) case has been cited with approval. 16. Considering the evidence from this point of view, we must first decide whether the evidence other than the confessional statements of the coaccused persons, particularly Ram Surat, on whose confession the Hig....
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....der Section 19 of the Act and has referred to the decision of the Apex Court in the matter of Pankaj Bansal Vs. Union of India & Others, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1244, in which it has been held as under: "29. In this regard, we may note that Article 22(1) of the Constitution WP (Crl.) No. 2465 of 2017, decided on 01.12.2017 = 2017 SCC OnLine Del 12108 2017 Cri LJ (NOC 301) 89 = 2017 (1) AIR Bom R (Cri) 929 provides, inter alia, that no person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest. This being the fundamental right guaranteed to the arrested person, the mode of conveying information of the grounds of arrest must necessarily be meaningful so as to serve the intended purpose. It may be noted that Section 45 of the Act of 2002 enables the person arrested under Section 19 thereof to seek release on bail but it postulates that unless the twin conditions prescribed thereunder are satisfied, such a person would not be entitled to grant of bail. The twin conditions set out in the provision are that, firstly, the Court must be satisfied, after giving an opportunity to the public prosecutor to oppose the applic....
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.... "37. Being a co-accused with the appellant, his statement against the appellant assuming there is anything incriminating against the present appellant will not have the character of substantive evidence. The prosecution cannot start with such a statement to establish its case. We hold that, in such a situation, the law laid down under Section 30 of the Evidence Act by this Court while dealing with the confession of the co-accused will continue to apply." 22. In the matter of Haricharan Kurmi Vs. State of Bihar reported in AIR 1964 SC1184, it has been held as under: "13. As we have already indicated. this question has been considered on several occasions by judicial decisions and it has been consistently held that a confession cannot be treated as evidence which is substantive evidence against a co-accused person. in dealing with a criminal case where the prosecution relies upon the confession of one accused person against another accused person, the proper approach to adopt is to consider the other evidence against such an accused person, and if the said evidence appears to be satisfactory and the court is inclined to hold that the said evidence may sustain the....
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....must begin with other evidence adduced by the prosecution and after it has formed its opinion with regard to the quality and effect of the said evidence, then it is permissible to turn to the confession in order to receive assurance to the conclusion of guilt which the judicial mind is about to reach on the said other evidence. That, briefly stated, is the effect of the provisions contained in S.30. The same view has been expressed by this Court in Kashmira Singh v. State of Madhya Pradesh(1) where the decision of the Privy Council in Bhuboni Sahu's(2) case has been cited with approval. XXXX XXXXX XXXX 16. Considering the evidence from this point of view, we must first decide whether the evidence other than the confessional statements of the co-accused persons, particularly Ram Surat, on whose confession the High Court has substantially relied, is satisfactory and tends to prove the prosecution case. It is only if the said evidence is satisfactory and is treated as sufficient by us to hold the charge proved against the two appellants, that an occasion may arise to seek for an assurance for our conclusion from the said confession. Thus considered, there can be no doubt t....
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....te of NCT of Delhi, W.P.(CRL) 1827/2024 & CRL.M.A. 17736/2024, dated 01st July 2024, wherein it has been observed as under: "6. It is true that the petitioner herein has not challenged the dismissal of the abovesaid application by the learned Magistrate, which he should have challenged before the learned Sessions Court as per the provisions of law, before approaching this Court. However, this Court is also of the opinion that it is not the non-compliance of Section 41A of Cr.P.C. alone which has been challenged before this Court, but also the manner in which he was arrested, the malafide of arrest and breach of his fundamental rights. Additionally, reliefs such as payment of compensation and taking action against the erring officers who have arrested him without giving him a notice under Section 41A of Cr.P.C. have also been prayed for." 25. Lastly, it has ben contended that the applicant has been suffering from diabetes and hypertension for which he is undergoing treatment at AIIMS, Raipur since 2019. It is submitted that the applicant had also undergone a pyloplasty surgery on account of reduced kidney function as also he is suffering from cervical spondylitis. He sub....
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....Sibbia and Others v. State of Punjab, (1980) 2 SCC 565. and Sanjay Chandra v. Central Bureau of Investigation, (2012) 1 SCC 40 that even if the allegation is one of grave economic offence, it is not a rule that bail should be denied in every case. Ultimately, the consideration has to be made on a case to case basis, on the facts. The primary object is to secure the presence of the accused to stand trial. The argument that the appellant therein was a flight risk or that there was a possibility of tampering with the evidence or influencing the witnesses, was rejected by the Court. Again, in Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation and Another, (2022) 10 SCC 51 this Court referred to Surinder Singh Alias Shingara Singh v. State of Punjab (2005) 7 SCC 387 and Kashmira Singh v. State of Punjab, (1977) 4 SCC 291 to emphasize that the right to speedy trial is a fundamental right within the broad scope of Article 21 of the Constitution. In Vijay Madanlal Choudhary (supra), this Court while highlighting the evil of economic offences like money laundering, and its adverse impact on the society and citizens, observed that arrest infringes the fundamental right to life. ....
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....he power to grant bail. This would be truer where the trial would take years." 28. He further contended that time and again it has been reiterated by the Apex Court that in cases where the fundamental right to speedy trial of the accused is violated, the State or any other prosecuting agency should not oppose the plea for bail on the ground that the crime committed is serious. Article 21 of the Constitution applied irrespective of the nature of the crime. He has referred to the decision of the Apex Court in the matter of Javed Gulam Nabi Shaikh Vs. State of Maharashtra, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 1693 wherein it has been observed that : 7. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and having gone through the materials on record, we are inclined to exercise our discretion in favour of the appellant herein keeping in mind the following aspects: (i) The appellant is in jail as an under-trial prisoner past four years; (ii) Till this date, the trial court has not been able to even proceed to frame charge; and (iii) As pointed out by the counsel appearing for the State as well as NIA, the prosecution intends to examine not less than eighty witnesses....
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.... of the PMLA." 30. If the trial gets protracted and it is clear that the case will not be decided within a forseeable time, the accused person is entitled for bail. In several cases, the Apex Court has been pleased to grant bail solely on the ground of delay in trial coupled with long pre-trial incarceration, despite the alleged gravity of the offences and despite the restrictions continued in the special statutes of grant of bail in Section 45 of the PMLA. Therefore, learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant may be granted bail by imposing certain conditions. SUBMISSIONS OF THE RESPONDENT/ED 31. In reply, Dr. Saurabh Kumar Pandey, learned counsel for the respondent/ED submits that an ECIR bearing No. RPZO/04/.2023 was recorded on the basis of a Prosecution Complaint dated 21.08.2023 filed by the Deputy Director of Income Tax before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Raipur wherein it is inter alia alleged that Kailash Rungta, Parasmal Chopra and Roshan Chandrakar who are President, Vice President and Treasurer respectively of the Chhattisgarh State Rice Millers Association along with the present applicant, who was the then Managing Dirctor of CG State Marke....
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.... DMOs and employees of MARKFED to delete all the chats and call history from their mobiles after the income tax department had conducted search. 35. This way, the applicant had actively and knowingly assisted co-accused Roshan Chandrakar in generating and acquiring proceeds of crime which constitute offence of Money Laundering under Section 3of the PMLA, 2002 and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA. The applicant had filed the application under Section 483 ov the BNSS read with Section 45 of the PMLA before the trial court seeking grant of regular bail in the subject ECIR which was dismissed after considering the facts and evidence against the applicant which clearly establishes his role in the offence of money laundering. The applicant has failed to satisfy the twin conditions as per Section 45 of the PMLA, therefore the special court has rightly rejected the bail application. 36. Further contention of the counsel for the applicant is that there was every likelihood that if the applicant was enlarged on bail, there is no surety that the applicant will not repeat the said offence and influence the witnesses and tamper with the evidences. He further contended that although ....
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....ce order in the prosecution complaint case of Income Tax Department was not in its knowledge at the time of filing of the prosecution complaint dated 28.06.2024. 40. He has reiterated that the ECIR is not a statutory document but only an internal document which was amended so that newly registered FIR by ACB/EOW may be incorporated in the ongoing investigation under the PMLA. The registration of FIR is in compliance of the provisions of law. The Apex Court has duly upheld in the matter Vijay Madanlal Choudhary Vs. Union of India SLP (Crl.) NO. 4634/2014, and observed as under: 60. As a matter of fact, prior to amendment of 2015, the first proviso acted as an impediment for taking such urgent measure even by the authorized officer, who is no less than the rank of Deputy Director. We must hasten to add that the nuanced distinction must be kept in mind that to initiate "prosecution" for offence under Section 3 of the Act registration of scheduled offence is a prerequisite, but for initiating action of "provisional attachment" under Section 5 there need not be a pre-registered criminal case in connection with scheduled offence. This is because the machinery provisions canno....
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....s noted earlier, the offence under this Act in terms of Section 3 is specific to involvement in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime which is generated as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence. It is also true that Section 45 does not make specific reference to Section 438 of the 1973 Code, but it cannot be overlooked that sub-section (1) opens with a nonobstante clause and 643 Supra at Footnote No.3 644 Criminal Appeal No.21 of 2022, decided on 4.1.2022 clearly provides that anything contained in the 1973 Code (2 of 1974), no person accused of an offence under this Act shall be released on bail or on his own bond, unless the stipulations provided therein are fulfilled. On account of the non-obstante clause in Section 45(1) of the 2002 Act, the sweep of that provision must prevail in terms of Section 71 of the 2002 Act. Further, the expression "anticipatory bail" is not used either in the 1973 Code or the 2002 Act. The relief granted in terms of Section 438 of the 1973 Code is one of directing release of the person on "bail" in case of his arrest; and such a relief has been described in judicial pronouncements as anticipatory bail. Se....
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....nd have deep rooted conspiracies which had affected the fibre of country's economic structure. These are committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequent to the community. It has serious repercussion on the development of the country as a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country. Thereofre the legislature has enacted special condition under the PMLA tog rant of bail in addition to the provision under Cr.P.C. Even Article 21 of the Constitution of India allows for curtailing right of citizen as per procedure of law. Moreover, a person is eligible to be released on bail under PMLA only if such person satisfies the twin conditions prescribed under Section 45 of the PMLa. One of the conditions prescribed by Section 45 pertains to the finding by the court that the accused is "not guilty of the offence of Money Laundering" and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. 37. Next contention of the learned counsel for the respondent is that the applicant has not at all gone through any prolonged incarceration nor is the trial delayed. Since there are only two accused in ....
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.... the accused person is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. 30. The conditions specified under Section 45 of the PMLA are mandatory and needs to be complied with which is further strengthened by the provisions of Section 65 and also Section 71 of the PMLA. Section 65 requires that the provisions of Cr.P.C. shall apply in so far as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and Section 71 provides that the provisions of the PMLA shall have overriding effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force. PMLA has an overriding effect and the provisions of Cr.P.C. would apply only if they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. Therefore, the conditions enumerated in Section 45 of PMLA will have to be complied with even in respect of an application for bail made under Section 439 of Cr.P.C. That coupled with the provisions of Section 24 provides that unless the contrary is proved, the Authority or the Court shall presume that proceeds of crime are involved in money laundering and the burden to prove that the proceeds of crime are not invol....
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.... contended that till date the POC worth Rs. 19 crores out of Rs. 147 crores has been attached till date. The investigation for tracing rest of the POC as well as role of other persons involved in the money laundering offence is going on. The judgment cited by the learned counsel for the applicant in the case of Sanjay Chandra Vs. CBI has no applicability in the instant case because the applicant has the history of destroying the evidence and influencing the witnesses with purpose of frustration the ongoing investigation. From the conduct of the applicant related to non-compliance of summons as well as destroying of evidence and influencing other concerned persons for not joining the investigation clearly shows his non-cooperative attitude and complete disregard for the rule of law and if he is enlarged on bail, it is likely that he will not keep himself present during trial. 45. It is next contended that this Court in the case of Alok Agrawal Vs. Directorate of Enforcement bearing M.Cr.C. No. 6533 of 2019 dated 03.01.2021, has discussed about the seriousness of the offence of money laundering and its impact on the economy of the country. It has been very categorically stated tha....
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....has been projected by the applicant, nil seizure of any unaccounted cash and POC from any premise does not absolve an accused from the guilt. The possibility of parking the Proceeds of Crime at a secret place/through layering cannot be denied. 47. During investigation, plethora of evidences in the form of seized material from search and the submission made under Section 50 of the PMLA has been gathered with squarely proves the guilt of the applicant in the offence of money laundering. As such the applicant fails to satisfy the twin conditions mandated under Section 45 of the PMLA, 2002. 48. It is thus contended by the learned counsel for the respondent that by virtue of Section 50 of the PMLA, statements given under this Section are inadmissible as evidence in the court of law. Further the attempt of applicant to weigh the evidences given by Ms. Pooja Pritika Kerketta, Bhaumik Baghel and others should not be allowed at this juncture as it is an established principle that while deciding the bail applications, the courts are not supposed to conduct a mini trial by evaluating each and every piece of evidence. Considering the seriousness of the offence and deep involvement of app....
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....e case of Nikesh Tarachand Shah643. Similar argument was considered in The Asst. Director Enforcement Directorate vs. Dr. V.C. Mohan 644. We are in agreement with the observation in this decision that it is one thing to say that Section 45 of the 2002 Act refers to a scheduled offence under the general law, but, as noted earlier, the offence under this Act in terms of Section 3 is specific to involvement in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime which is generated as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence. It is also true that Section 45 does not make specific reference to Section 438 of the 1973 Code, but it cannot be overlooked that sub-section (1) opens with a non-obstante clause and 643 Supra at Footnote No.3 644 Criminal Appeal No.21 of 2022, decided on 4.1.2022 clearly provides that anything contained in the 1973 Code (2 of 1974), no person accused of an offence under this Act shall be released on bail or on his own bond, unless the stipulations provided therein are fulfilled. On account of the non-obstante clause in Section 45(1) of the 2002 Act, the sweep of that provision must prevail in terms of Section 71 of the 2002 Act. Furt....
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....rs who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to books. A murder may be committed in the heat of moment upon passions being aroused. An economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the Community. 53. Further contention of the counsel for the applicant is that the applicant was one of the main accused of the scam and by using his official authority as MD, MARKFED, assisted co-accused Roshan Chandrakar in creating a system which forced the rice millers to give extortion amount for clearance of their bills. He contended that even if the applicant is not the beneficiary of POC, he may be accused of the offence of money laundering if he knowingly assists in any process of activity connected with POC. In the instant case, the applicant had knowingly misused his official authority and assisted in implementation of extortion system which caused systematic extortion from rice millers of the State to the tune of Rs. 147 crores approximately. Had the applicant not withheld the bills of rice millers, the other co-accused Roshan Chandrakar would not have been able to force the rice millers to ....
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....er quintal of custom milled rice out of the special incentive price of Rs. 120/- payable by the State of Chhattisgarh to the custom rice millers. Hence the offence under Section 383/384 of the IPC has been levelled against the applicant. Similarly, the allegation of cheating under Section 420 IPC has been made against the applicant. Though it has been submitted by the counsel for the applicant that there is no direct or specific evidence against the applicant to suggest that he was involved in any of the offence as alleged in the subject ECIR or the prosecution complaint. 58. From the investigation of the ED, it has been revealed that the applicant was one of the key conspirator and main beneficiary of the POC extorted from the rice millers. It has also been revealed that the rice milers were forced for payment of the same under threat that their incentive bills would not be cleared from the MARKFED. As per Section 50(4) of the PML Act, the statements recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA has evidentiary value as the proceedings under Section 50(2) and (3) are deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of Section 193 and 228 of the IPC, 1860. 59. The applicant is c....
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.... menace of money laundering. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) exists as an important legislative instrument in this regard. However, the applicability of PMLA, especially its inflexible provisions related to grant of bail, has given rise to debates and deliberations, concerning the balance between ensuring justice and protecting the liberty of an individual. 62. The term bail has been defined in Section 2(1)(b) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, as the release of a person accused of or suspected of committing a crime from custody, based on certain conditions set by an officer or court, which require the person to sign a bond or bail bond. It imposes pre-trial conditions on the suspect to ensure they cooperate with the investigation and trial. According to Black's Law Dictionary, bail is a form of security, such as cash or a bond, required by the court to release a prisoner who must appear in court on a later date. Wharton's Law Lexicon describes bail as setting a person at liberty who has been arrested or imprisoned, based on security taken for their appearance at a specified time as well as place. 63. The principle that bail is the rule and jail is....
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.... any other prosecuting agency should not oppose a bail application solely on the basis that the crime committed is serious and that Article 21 of the Constitution applies regardless of the severity of the crime. 66. The Apex Court's pronouncements in the case of Manish Sisodia (supra) and Prem Prakash (supra) have significant implications for the interpretation of bail under PMLA. It underscores the need for a balanced approach to be adopted by the courts that considers both the seriousness of the offence and the fundamental rights of the accused, especially when there is delay in trial and incarceration for a long period of time. As the country continues to grapple with complex economic offences, the interpretation of bail provisions under the PMLA are likely to evolve, with the efflux of time. 67. In the present case, it is not acceptable that the applicant was not involved in the offence of money laundering. In fact, the applicant was assisting the co-accused Roshan Chandrakar in running an alleged extortion racket wherein an amount of Rs. 40/- (Rs. 20+20/-) per quintal was extorted from the custom milled rice out of the special incentive price of Rs. 120/- payable by the ....