TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (6) TMI 1272
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.... an ECIR/11/DLZO/2016 dated 30.11.2016 was registered by the ED and started investigation for money laundering. During investigation, it is revealed that as a result of demonetization of currency notes of 500/- & 1000/- denomination announced by the Government of India on 08.11.2016, persons having large amount of such notes were looking for avenues to convert their unaccounted demonetized money into monetized form or into bullion/gold using the bank accounts of the front companies. One Nitin Gupta, Mohit Garg and others conceived the entire scheme and collected the cash from prospective buyers including Sh. Prateek Bansal, who was one of the prospective buyers, who has given Rs. 12 crores (approx.) to Sh. Nitin Gupta for purchasing gold. Sh. Prateek Bansal collected this money from various prospective-buyers, like Ravi Aggarwal (herein appellant), Anirudh Narain Aggarwal and others. For this purpose, Nitin Gupta got in touch with Mohit Garg, a person from whom he was taking RTGS in the past also. Mohit Garg got in touch with Rajeev Singh Kushwaha his friend and associate who had been facilitating his transactions in the past also. Both of them agreed to the proposal of Nitin Gup....
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....order, present appeal is filed by the appellant. 3. During the arguments, Ld. Counsel for the appellant submitted that appellant is not named in the F.I.R. registered by the police. He pointed out that till date, no charge sheet is filled by the police against any of the accused persons. He further pointed out that search & seizure was conducted by respondent-ED on 17.02.2017, and thereafter, Original Application No. 78/2017 was filed before the Adjudicating Authority for permission to retain the 20 pieces of gold weighing 998 gms., only on 20.03.2017 i.e. beyond the mandatory period of 30 days i.e. on 31st day. He contended that Adjudicating Authority granted the permission to retain the said articles vide impugned order dated 14.06.2017, without appreciating the factual position. He pointed out that even prosecution complaint under PMLA is filed by respondent-ED on 30.06.2018 i.e. with delay of 406 days from the date of seizure. He further argued that the said seized gold from the possession of the appellant cannot be termed as laundered money from any proceeds of crime, in absence of any incriminating evidence in this regard. He further stressed that no reason to believe were e....
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....g, an Entry Operator, contacted him for this purpose. Mohit Garg was working as an Entry Operator with assistance of Rajeev Singh Kushwaha, who had various fictitious companies namely M/s Himalaya International, M/s RD Trader, M/s Beagle Marketing and M/s Sunrise Trading. Mohit Garg discussed with his friends Rajeev Singh Khushwaha & others to take illegal advantage of demonetization policy. They all agreed to convert unaccounted demonetized currency into monetized form by way of depositing in front company/firm of Rajeev Singh Khushwaha for this they have charged 15% of total deposit. Rajeev Singh Khushwaha and Mohit Garg were known to Vineet Gupta, Branch Manager and Shobhit Sinha, Operation Manager of Axis Bank, Kashmere Gate Branch. They contacted bank official in Axis Bank to get special facilities/assistance to put those money which had no legal tender into the banking system to make it a legal tender, through their fictitious company having current accounts in Axis Bank, Kashmere Gate Branch. The scrutiny of bank account statements of the companies' firms namely M/s Sunrise Trading Company, M/s Himalaya International, M/s RD Traders and M/s Beagle Marketing Pvt Ltd. revealed....
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...., that amount transferred to Bullion Traders account and gold & diamond procured against that demonetized currency by Prateek Bansal and handed over to the purchasers including Ravi Aggarwal. On the basis of statement recorded under Section 50 of PMLA and information gathered from various source residential premises of Shri Ravi Aggarwal and Sh. Anirudh Agarwal were searched under Section 17 of PMLA on 17.02.2017 and 18.02.2017 and thereafter, the recovered gold and jewellery were seized which fall squarely under the definition of proceeds of crime as defined under Section 2(1)(u) of the PMLA. Section 2 (u) in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 "Proceeds of crime" means any property derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, by any person as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence or the value of any such property" For the purpose of investigation, OA No. 78/2017 was filed before Hon'ble Adjudicating Authority for retention of seized valuables under Section 17(4) of PMLA and vide order dated 14.06.2017 aforesaid OA was confirmed by Adjudicating Authority, PMLA. Provisional Attachment Order 01/17 dated 27.01.2017 under second proviso of Section 5....
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....its. 5. After hearing the rival submissions, I have given my thoughtful consideration to the same. The fact that if no charge sheet is filed by the police against any person after the registration of FIR, as submitted Ld. Counsel for appellant, even then, the appellant is not entitled to any relief, till the filling and acceptance of the closure report. In case any closure report is accepted, then certainly the consequences will follow, in prosecution complaint case under PMLA. This Appellate Tribunal cannot release the property on this ground at this stage. There is nothing to doubt the allegation of respondent ED that the many persons including the appellant agreed to give RTGS entry to the Jewellers at the instance of main accused persons, as mentioned in para no. 2 above. The defense of appellant cannot be entertained by this Appellate Tribunal and the appellant has to prove the same during the criminal trials. The delivery of jewellery after demonetization declared on 08.11.2016 clearly points out that accommodation entries were given to facilitate the main accused persons to convert the demonetize currency notes of the denomination of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/-, in lieu of co....