TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (6) TMI 932
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....n'ble Court be pleased to quash and set aside letters dated 7th September, 2022 (Exh. 43), 15th September, 2022 (Exh. 48) in Special Case No. 1124 of 2020, pending on the file of Ld. Special PMLA Judge. Mumbai; c. That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to quash and set aside letter bearing OW No. 17951/2022 dated 4th August, 2022 from the Registrar of Sessions Court, Mumbai, directing the Ld. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrates 47th Court at Esplanade, Mumbai, to pass appropriate orders with regards to the 'C'-Summary Report, and thereafter commit the same to the Ld. Special PMLA Court, Mumbai; d. That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to quash and set aside the judgement and order dated 14/09/2022 passed by the Ld. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrates 47th Court at Esplanade, Mumbai thereby sending the records of CC No. 2448/MISC/2021 in MECR No. 5/2020 back to the Ld. Special PMLA Court, Mumbai; e. That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to quash and set aside the impugned judgement and order dated 14/09/2022, accepting 'C'-Summary Report, passed by the Ld. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrates 47th Court at Esplanade, Mumbai in CC No. 2448/MISC/2021 in MECR No. 5/2020....
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....at accordingly, compliance documents like PF/ ESIC were submitted for 100% of the contract value and not on the basis of actual deployment of the guards. iii. That the Complainant during investigation submitted that huge cash amounts were withdrawn from bank accounts of M/s Topsgrup Services & Solutions Ltd. and were given to Mr. Niraj Bijlani, who is Ex-CEO of Topsgrup. That in the year FY 2017-18, an amount of Rs. 92 lakhs approx. was handed over to Mr. Niraj Bijlani and there was an arrangement with a person namely Mr. Amit S. Chandole (Respondent No. 8) as per which 50% of the profits (i.e., Revenue billed to MMRDA less wages, PF, ESIC) were being regularly shared on monthly basis, and in addition, a fixed commission of Rs. 50,000/- per month and Rs. 500/- per guard (as per contracted agreement) deployed is being paid to Amit Chandole (Respondent No. 8) and these amounts were paid by Topsgrup to the said accused. As per the details provided by the Complainant, for last 3 years i.e., from May 2017 till June 2020, amount aggregating to Rs. 2.36 crore has been shared as commission. Out of the said amount Rs. 90 Lakh has been paid through bank transfers to Mr. Amit S. Chandole a....
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.... The report may on the other hand state that, in the opinion of the police, no offence appears to have been committed and where such a report has been made, the Magistrate again has an option to adopt one of three courses: (1) he may accept the report and drop the proceeding or (2) he may disagree with the report and taking the view that there is sufficient ground for proceeding further, take cognizance of the offence and issue process or (3) he may direct further investigation to be made by the police under sub-section (3) of Section 156. Where, in either of these two situations, the Magistrate decides to take cognizance of the offence and to issue process, the informant is not prejudicially affected nor is the injured or in case of death, any relative of the deceased aggrieved, because cognizance of the offence is taken by the Magistrate and it is decided by the Magistrate that the case shall proceed. But if the Magistrate decides that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding further and drops the proceeding or takes the view that though there is sufficient ground for proceeding against some, there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against others mentioned in....
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....ovide any justification for depriving the informant of the opportunity of being heard at the time when the report is considered by the Magistrate." (Emphasis added) 8. Thus, it is clear that if 'C' Summary Report is filed, then the learned Magistrate has three options, as follows: (i) Learned Magistrate may accept the C-Summary report and drop the proceeding. (ii) Learned Magistrate may disagree with the report and taking the view that there is sufficient ground for proceeding further, take cognizance of the offence and issue process. (iii) Learned Magistrate may direct further investigation to be made by the police under sub-section (3) of Section 156. 9. Thus, the learned Magistrate was duty bound to apply his mind to the facts of the case and to the 'C' Summary Report and the material annexed to the same and then pass order either accepting the 'C' Summary Report or rejecting the said 'C' Summary Report and taking cognizance of the offence and issuing process or the learned Magistrate may direct further investigation under sub-section (3) of Section 156. A bare perusal of said Order dated 14th September 2022 shows that the 'C' Summary Report is accepted without ap....
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....on No.4523 of 2022 and Mr. Ponda, learned Senior Counsel for Respondent No. 8 in Writ Petition No.4523 of 2022 and also for the Petitioner in Writ Petition No. 6332 of 2024, point out Section 44 (1) (c) of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 ("PMLA, 2002"), which reads as under:- "44. Offences triable by Special Courts.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974)- ... (c) if the court which has taken cognizance of the scheduled offence is other than the Special Court which has taken cognizance of the complaint of the offence of money-laundering under sub-clause (b), it shall, on an application by the authority authorised to file a complaint under this Act, commit the case relating to the scheduled offence to the Special Court and the Special Court shall, on receipt of such case proceed to deal with it from the stage at which it is committed." (Emphasis added) Both the learned Senior Counsel submit that it is very clear that the stage of committal will be only after the jurisdictional Court takes cognizance of the scheduled offence. 14. Mr. Desai, learned Senior Counsel and Mr. Ponda, learned Senior Counsel relied ....