TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (5) TMI 2101
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....ad with Sections 409, 465, 468, 471, 474, 477(A) Act of IPC and substantive offences thereunder. Thereafter, investigation was transferred to EOW, Mumbai Police and FIR was re-registered as 89 of 2013. In the complaint, it is alleged that he was induced into making investments by false representations and assurances given by the promoters and senior management of National Stock Exchange Limited (NSEL) with a deliberate intention to dishonestly misappropriate his funds. He had been cheated by NSEL with practically little hope for recovery of the amounts on the contracts. He was cheated by the NSEL by creating a false impression of being a proper Spot Exchange with correct risk management systems in order to induce him to trade therein and deliberately misled that their trades were backed by genuine ware house receipts. The sellers desirous to sell/buy through NSEL have to compulsorily deliver the commodity in the NSEL designated warehouse of a particular location specified in the Exchange Circular. However, it was found that the certified warehouses of NSEL lacked capacity and some of them had no stocks. Thus, the genuine investors were defrauded of their investments by way of serio....
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....lity/ quantity of the commodities. The rate of return for the buyer member of T+2 contract was the difference between the contract value which used to vary between 14 to 15% p.a. being there off made after deducting the transaction costs. The Income Tax Authorities, had conducted preliminary enquiries with regard to warehousing facilities of the defaulting members of NSEL. A request was, therefore, made to Income Tax Authorities to provide the details of such verification. Vide their letter dated 18.10.2013, they provided findings of preliminary enquiries conducted by them against the defaulters of NSEL. It was informed that Shri Mohit Agarwal had accepted in his statement that his firms viz. M/s. Aastha Minmet India Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Juggernaut Projects Limited were allowed to trade at NSEL without giving actual delivery of the goods; that as per the NSEL data base, the stock of TMT bars belonging to M/s. Juggernaut Projects Ltd. at their Ulindakonda warehouse as on 6th August, 2013 should have been 65,250 M.T. valued at Rs. 260,02,12,500/-, however, the actual available stock of TMT bars as on 6th August, 2013 as per the books maintained at the said premises, the stock of TMT b....
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....ccount; (2) transfer of funds to members' client account and receipt of funds from any account; that the operation of client account was totally in the hands of the member; that he could accept funds from his clients in this account and could issue cheques to his clients from this account. Shri Anjani Sinha was also enquired to explain function of business development section and warehousing section of NSEL, he stated that business development team was responsible for development of the market, introduction of new members, identifying new commodities, carrying out ground level due diligence of the parties and if found fit, to introduce them to the Exchange system; that Warehousing department was responsible for identifying and approving warehouses, maintaining stock in the warehouses, keeping control and vigil on actual commodity inward and outward along with current stock level and to upload actual stock statement on the website. On being asked to explain the reasons for crisis in NSEL, Shri Anjani Sinha stated that the defaulting members were in collusion with the warehousing staff of NSEL; that they manipulated the stock and duped the entire exchange mechanism; that the mem....
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....ard to settlement and client accounts maintained by Aastha group of companies comprising M/s. Aastha Minmet Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Juggernaut Projects Ltd. The respective statement of accounts were obtained under Section 50 of the PMLA, 2002, and scrutinized in detail. Scrutiny of the account statements revealed that Aastha Group had received funds in their settlement accounts from NSEL purportedly on account of sale of TMT bars through T+2 contracts, that the said funds were transferred to their respective client accounts maintained with HDFC Bank & State Bank of India, It was noticed that due to the process of executing fresh T+2 contracts on the payable date of previous T+25 contracts, the total amounts credited from NSEL in the settlement account of M/s Aastha Minmet India Ltd. and M/s. Juggernauts Projects Ltd. was Rs. 1680.65 Crores, whereas, the total amount debited to NSEL was Rs. 1494.33 Crores. These transactions were executed against the purported sale and buy of paddy in T+2 and T+25 contract executed through NSEL. As per NSEL records, the total liability of Aastha Group was to the tune of Rs. 242.66 Crores towards NSEL on account of settlement of their said contracts. Thu....
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....Bank Account No. 030305411006 49000 9 Aastha Minmet India Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank Settlement a/c No. 00990680023575→ Bonhi Mukherjee HSBC Bank Account No. 030305411006 1000000 10 Aastha Minmet India Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank Settlement a/c No. 00990680023575→ Bonhi Mukherjee HSBC Bank Account No. 030305411006 45000 11 Aastha Minmet India Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank Settlement a/c No. 00990680023575→ Sree Balaji TMT Rod Mills Pvt. Ltd. → Bonhi Mukherjee HSBC Bank Account No. 030305411006 45000 12 Aastha Minmet India Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank Settlement a/c No. 00990680023575→ Bonhi Mukherjee HSBC Bank Account No. 030305411006 50000 13 Aastha Minmet India Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank Settlement a/c No. 00990680023575→ Sree Balaji TMT Rod Mills Pvt. Ltd. → Bonhi Mukherjee HSBC Bank Account No. 030305411006 50000 14 Aastha Minmet India Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank Settlement a/c No. 00990680023575 → Mohit Agarwal 7650000 In view of the preliminary findings, search and survey operations under Sections 16 & 17 of the PMLA, 2002, were carried out at the business and residential premises related to Aastha Group on 20.12.2013. During the course of the said operations, statements of Sh....
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....ojects Ltd.; that the said company was floated as they were having issues with their banks/financial institutions taking objection to the brokering business of M/s Aastha Minmet India Pvt. Ltd. along with trading; that they had, therefore, decided to separate the two activities and formed M/s Juggernaut Projects Ltd to deal with the NSEL brokerage business, so that M/s Aastha Minmet (India) Ltd would concentrate into its core business of trading. On being asked specifically, Shri Mohit Agarwal stated that they initially used to deliver the goods to the NSEL godown, however, the goods were getting damaged due to rust and they were getting lower sales price; that they had then made an arrangement with NSEL, whereby, they used to just send an email to NSEL declaring that the traded quantity of goods had been delivered to NSEL godown; that actually, there were no deliveries and it was just a paper transaction. Shri Mohit Agarwal admitted that the contracts were launched without any physical stock of goods. He further stated that he was assisted in his work relating to NSEL trading transactions by his Manager Finance & Accounts - Ms. Shama Kejriwal and that she had resigned from her job....
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....ducted, stock offer & release letters to be issued, and invoices to be generated on a given day, from NSEL and accordingly, used to punch in the trades or generate the documents; that based on the instructions of Shri Mohit Agarwal, the funds received in the Settlement Account were transferred to the Client Account and thereafter to the other group companies; that the NSEL funds were utilized in their business activities including manufacturing and trading; that the goods manufactured/ purchased were sold to their customers; that funds received from customers had the origin in the NSEL funds. In view of the evidences gathered, it was concluded by ED that the funds received from the settlement accounts with NSEL by the Aastha group were used for the trading and manufacturing activity. The funds received on sale of the goods through trading/manufacturing activity were utilized for procurement of real estate, agricultural land and Flat No. 801, admeasuring 571 Sq. feet (carpet area), 8th Floor, Ivory Heights, Village Navghar, Bhayander Taluka, District Thane, was procured in the name of Mrs. Bonhi Mukherjee, wife of Shri Amit Mukherjee, Assistant Vice President (Business Development)....
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....ntained with IDBI Bank, Mission Road, Bangaluru. (xi) Rs. 45,000/- was credited by NEFT on 10.10.2012 from the account No. 0884250205658 of M/s Aastha Alloy Corp Pvt. Ltd. (earlier Sree Balaji TMT Rod Mills Pvt. Ltd) maintained with United Bank of India, Cantonment, Bangaluru. xii) Rs. 50,000/- was credited by NEFT on 06.11.2012 from the account No. 655100001786 of M/s. Aastha Minmet India Ltd. maintained with IDBI Bank, Mission Road, Bangaluru. xiii) Rs. 50,000/- was credited by NEFT on 06.11.2012 from the account No. 0884250205658 of M/s. Aastha Alloy Corp Pvt. Ltd. (earlier Sree Balaji TMT Rod Mills Pvt. Ltd) maintained with United Bank of India, Cantonment, Bangaluru. Accordingly, it was concluded by ED that Bonhi Mukherjee, also purchased the attached flat out of the proceeds of crime and not from the consultancy charges. On the basis of the incriminating material documents and the statements recorded under Section 50 of PMLA, the Directorate of Enforcement attached the properties vide PAO No. 08/14 dated 31.03.2014 and thereafter, ED filed Original Complaint No. 300/2014 before the Adjudicating Authority for the confirmation of said attachment. The Adjudicating Autho....
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....esent appellant is not facing trial for commission of any predicate offence in the charge sheet, filed by the police u/s 173 Cr.P.C.. This fact points towards the direction that she was not part and parcel of any conspiracy in predicate offence. He argued that the attached Flat as mentioned in para no.1 above was purchased by the appellant out of her own income and sources and the same cannot be termed as part of proceeds of crime, just because appellant was employed with M/s Aastha Minmet (India) Pvt. Ltd. He further contended that appellant is not involved in the offence of money laundering, though she is wrongly arrayed as an accused in the said Prosecution Complaint filed by ED. He argued that she is falsely dragged and implicated in PMLA case. He stressed that appellant is being victimized, just because she is wife of Amit Mukherjee Assistant Vice President of NSEL. He further argued that appellant purchase properties on 20.12.2012 that is prior to the amendment of 2013 which came into effect on 15.02.2013. He contended that as a total consideration amount of the property was Rs. 22,05,000, she has not committed any schedule offence, as per pre-amended provision. Prayer is acc....
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....consultancy charges, as mentioned in detail in detail in para no.2 above. The said evidence reflects that Shri Amit Mukherjee, the husband of the present appellant was Assistant VP of NSEL. He was hand in glove with the other co-accused persons for commission of NSEL scam including granting of NSEL membership to dubious entities and in allowing them to trade in commodities without the actual delivery of the stock. He was deeply involved in manipulation and generation of bogus documents such as stock offer letters and warehouse receipts. At all time, he was aware of non- existent of stock goods. For the service rendered by him to the defaulting members, he received part of the proceeds of the crime in the form of payment to his wife Mrs. Bohni Mukherjee, payment to property dealers, payment for purchase of Range Rover vehicle, payment for foreign trips. He was actively involved in the activities connected with process of crime including its acquisition, possession, and projection of proceeds of crime as untainted properties. He was the key person of the NSEL management who perpetrated this fraud with the help of other accused. Now coming to the role of present appellant, she receive....