TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (6) TMI 858
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.... Rs. 1.30 Lakh 2. Plot of Land measuring 03 Kattha 02L at Dag No. 418, PP No. 75, Mouza Godhulibazar, Baruapukuri Bagjan Grant, P.O. Amguri, District: Sivasagar, Assam. S.D. dated 17.03.1998 Rs. 0.18 Lakh 3. Plot of Land measuring 02 Kattha, 14L at Dag No. 480, PP No. 148, Mouza Godhulibazar, Joradhara Grant, P.O. Amguri, District: Sivasagar, Assam. S.D. dated 02.11.2002 Rs. 0.378 Lakh 4. Plot of Land measuring 01 Bigha, 01 Kattha, 08L at Dag No. 165, PP No. 135, Mouza Morabazar, Lafera Chowdang Grant, P.O. Amguri, District: Sivasagar, Assam. S.D. dated 12.10.2016 Rs. 1.28 Lakh 2. As per the facts of the case on 13.01.2009 the Vigilance Officer, North-East Frontier Railway (NF Railway) filed complaint before the Central Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Corruption Branch, Guwahati and accordingly, FIR was registered on the basis of said complaint on 20.01.2009 against the accused persons for the commission of offences under Section 120 B of IPC read with Section 409, 467, 471 & 511 IPC and also read with Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(c)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and the substantiative offences thereunder. After completion of invest....
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....kata in connection with a FICN case. It has also been revealed in the investigation that on 30.10.2008, accused Mohammed Tazimuddin Ahmed alias Harish Ali alias Raju Bhai who is the mastermind of the entire conspiracy came and checked into Hotel Marina, Kolkata, where Sri Putul Gogoi was staying to collect the money. However, in view of arrest of Sri Putul Gogoi in a FICN case, Sri Tazimuddin Ahmed could not collect the money from Shri Putul Gogoi on that day. Investigation has further revealed that one Shri Biswajit Saha in conspiracy with Shri Mohammed Tazimuddin Ahmed encashed 6 (Six) Cheques out of 07 Nos. of N.F. railway cheques. Shri Biswajit Saha opened two fraudulent bank accounts in the name of M/s Saha Enterprise showing himself as Biswambhar Saha, proprietor of the said concern. These two bank accounts were in ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank at Kolkata and were opened solely for the purpose of encashment of above mentioned 6 (Six) Nos. N.F. Railway cheques. The Current Account or M/s. Saha Enterprise bearing number 627705053551 was opened in ICICI Bank, Vivekananda Road Branch, Kolkata on 29.08.2008. Four NF Railway cheques drawn on RBI, Kolkata were fraudulently encashed....
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....muddin Ahmed that he had arranged the bank account of one Sri Biswajit Saha for the said purpose through his friends, Sri Prakash Singh Mookim and Sri Satyajit Gupta: Thereafter, as per the agreed plan, Mohammed Tazimuddin encashed three fraudulent railway cheques bearing number 100003, 100007, 100013 and totaling Rs. 69,18,246/- through Shri Biswajit Saha vide his ICICI Bank account and almost the entire amount was withdrawn in cash/gold through self-drawn cheques of Sri Biswajit Saha. Investigation further revealed that Sri Deepak Marda was present outside ICICI Bank, Vivekananda Road branch along with other associated persons at the time of handling over of the first two fraudulent railway cheques by Sri Mohammed Tazimuddin Ahmed while the remaining four fraudulent railway cheques were handed over by Sri Mohammed Tazimuddin Ahmed to Sri Biswajit Saha directly. Thus, Sri Biswajit Saha, in conspiracy with others, encashed 6 (six) N.F. Railway cheques totaling to Rs. 1,22,99,666/-, while Sri Deepak Marda encashed 01 (one) cheque of Rs. 9,82,675/-. Investigation conducted by Enforcement Directorate also revealed that the above mentioned persons viz, Shri Putul Gogoi, Shri M....
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.... in the following manner. Sl. No. Name of the persons Amount (in Rs. ) 1. Shri Putul Gogoi 20,00,000/- 2. Shri Tazimuddin Ahmed 105,13,000/- 3. Shri Biswajit Saha 1,40,941/- 4. Shri Satyajit Gupta 10,000/- 5. Shri Prakash Sing Mookim 19,200/- 6. Shri Sikander Sayeed 19,200/- 7. Shri Deepak Marda 50,000/- 8. Shri Rajgopal Kankani 50,000/- 9. Police seized 4,80,000/- TOTAL 1,32,82,341/- Examinations and recording of Statements of various persons during investigation revealed that Shri Tazimuddin Ahmed and Shri Putul Gogoi are the two main beneficiaries for proceeds of the fraudulent encashment of NF Railway Cheques. Shri Md. Tazimuddin Ahmed himself would come to Kolkata with the NF Railway cheques and signed it and handed over those to Shri Biswajit Saha for encashment. After encashment the proceeds were handed over to Shri Tazimuddin Ahmed at or near the Bank premises when all the conduits/ conspirators used to be present and a small portion were handed over to them as the commission for helping in this fraudulent acts and Shri Tazimuddin Ahmed would leave for Assam with the....
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....he relied bundle of all documents, the E.D. passed the provisional attachment order on 28.03.2017 and thereafter filed original complaint No. 741/2017 before the Adjudicating Authority for confirmation of PAO. The Adjudicating Authority being satisfied with the allegations made in the O.C. coupled with the relevant documents and the statements u/s 50 of PMLA, issued the Show Cause Notice to the defendants. After receiving their respective replies and hearing the rival submissions, the Adjudicating Authority confirmed the PAO vide its order dated 01.08.2017. Aggrieved by the said order, appellant filed the present appeal. 3. During the arguments, Ld. Counsel for the appellant submitted that appellant was in custody at the relevant period, when the cheques were encashed, and accordingly, he stressed that questions of receiving any proceeds of crime does not arise. He further argued that nothing was recovered from his possession and the aforesaid three properties (as mentioned in para no. 1 above) were acquired by him in the year 2000, 1998 and 2002 respectively, which is much before the date of period of commission of scheduled offence, and hence, the same cannot be attached....
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....indirectly be derived or obtained as a result of any criminal activity relatable to the scheduled offence]. xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx The perusal of the definition reveals three limbs of the definition out of which first part refers to the property acquired or derived directly or indirectly by a person relating to the criminal activity to a scheduled offence. The second part includes "the value of any such property". The second part is generally mixed with third part for giving interpretation. However, an elaborate judgment on the issue has been given by the Delhi High Court in the case of Prakash Industries Ltd. v. Directorate of Enforcement reported in 2022 SCC OnLine Del 2087 and in this regard, Para 105 of the judgment in the case of Prakash Industries Ltd. (Supra) are quoted hereunder:- "105. It would be pertinent to recall that properties which were acquired prior to the enforcement of the Act may not be completely immune from action under the Act in light of what this Court had held in Axis Bank. As was explained by the Court in Axis Bank, the expression proceeds of crime envisages both ―tainted property as well as "untainted property" with ....
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....ountry or abroad can be proceeded with. The definition of "property" as in Section 2(1)(v) is equally wide enough to encompass the value of the property of proceeds of crime. Such interpretation would further the legislative intent in recovery of the proceeds of crime and vesting it in the Central Government for effective prevention of money- laundering." The paras quoted above show a detailed discussion to the interpretation to the definition of "proceeds of crime". The judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Smt. Pavana Dibbur v. The Directorate of Enforcement reported in 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1586 has also been considered. It is pertinent to mention here that para 68 of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India (supra) has escaped the sight of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Smt. Pavana Dibbur v. The Directorate of Enforcement (supra) and in the subsequent judgment of Hon'ble High Court of Kerala, Ernakulam Bench, in case titled as, Davy Varghese v. Enforcement Directorate, WP (crl.) 1354 dated 16.12.2024. However, findings given by three judges Bench of the Apex Court in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India (supra) has been relied to give interpretation to th....
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....ds of crime are likely to be concealed, transferred or dealt with in any manner which may result in frustrating any proceedings relating to confiscation of such proceeds of crime under this Chapter, he may, by order in writing, provisionally attach such property for a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days from the date of the order, in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided that no such order of attachment shall be made unless, in relation to the scheduled offence, a report has been forwarded to a Magistrate under section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), or a complaint has been filed by a person authorised to investigate the offence mentioned in that Schedule, before a Magistrate or court for taking cognizance of the scheduled offence, as the case may be, or a similar report or complaint has been made or filed under the corresponding law of any other country: Provided further that, notwithstanding anything contained in 1 [first proviso], any property of any person may be attached under this section if the Director or any other officer not below the rank of Deputy Director authorised by him for the purposes of this section has....