TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 874
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.... Prosecution Case: 2. The prosecution story, in brief, as per the allegation made in the instant ECIR/complaint reads as under: The case of the prosecution is that an ECIR/ RNZO/17/2024 has been recorded on the basis of FIR No. 188 of 2024 dated 04.06.2024 which was lodged by PS - Bariatu, District - Ranchi, Jharkhand, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 & 34 of IPC 1860, Section 12 of Passports Act 1967; Section 14-A of Foreigners Act, 1946. 3. As per the aforesaid FIR, one Nipah Akhtar Khushi aged about 21 years hailing from Bangladesh was brought to Kolkata by a girl named Manisha with the help of another girl named Jhuma on the midnight of 31.05.2024, by illegally facilitating her crossing Bangladesh border from the jungle area, on the pretext of getting her engaged in any work in India. 4. The said Nipah Akhtar Khushi was then brought to Ranchi by car, where she was first kept at Bali Resort, Ranchi for two days with other girls. The Bangladeshi girl namely Nipah Akhtar and another girl Haasi Akhtar alias Hasi Vishwas, also hailing from Bangladesh, were kept at one Apartment with two other different Bangladeshi girls Parveen and Jhuma. Jhuma had helped Nipah ....
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....ating again to India in 2002. During his stay, he acquired fraudulent ration cards for his family and subsequently obtained various Indian citizenship documents, including a passport, PAN card, Aadhaar card, and voter ID, based on forged records. He extended this fraudulent activity to his family members, enabling them to open bank accounts and access services in India. Additionally, he engaged in multiple fraudulent activities, including acquiring assets, evading taxes, and accumulating wealth through undisclosed means. A search conducted on 12.11.2024 at his premises uncovered an unlicensed gun along with nine live bullets. Despite being a Bangladeshi national, this petitioner acquired substantial assets in India by posing as an Indian citizen using fake documents. 12. During his statement, Rony Mondal admitted that he did not possess a license for the gun recovered from his residence during the search conducted on 12.11.2024, along with nine live bullets, both of which were kept illegally. Additionally, cash amounting to 5 lakhs was seized during the search, including brand-new Rs.500 notes in consecutive serial numbers. He also admitted of having previously obtained ration a....
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....ndal is a Bangladeshi National as per immigration data and has acquired Indian citizenship fraudulently on the basis of false documentation, and made false statement to support the documents. 18. This is a serious case involving illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals in India and acquiring citizenship and settlement by use of fake documents. Also, accused persons are also a threat to national security and the economy as they are deeply involved in grave and heinous activities that have cross-border implications and inter- state operations. 19. Further, there is strong apprehension that the Accused persons will evade the process of investigation and may abscond. Further, there is a possibility that the said persons may hamper the investigation by influencing the witnesses and other persons associated with the case. 20. On having material in possession and reasons to believe recorded in writing, that the accused persons are guilty of the offence of Money Laundering for the reasons, as discussed above Accused No. 4 viz. Rony Mondal was arrested on 12.11.2024 in the ongoing investigation and since the said accused was arrested outside the territorial jurisdiction of the....
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....me" as defined under section 2(u) of the PMLA, Act 2002, which is sine qua non in proving any accused guilty under PMLA,2002. So, it would not be appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the case that innocent persons be punished behind the bars. 28. It has been contended that it is the case of the prosecution that the subject property is proceeds of crime acquired and possessed by the petitioner which has no legal or factual basis. The subject property is the hard- earned money by the petitioner which cannot be by any stretch of imagination termed as proceeds of crime. 29. Learned counsel has further contended that recovery of cash deposit and ornaments does not make out a case of money laundering against the petitioner. The opposite party-ED has not been able to show that the fixed deposit and the ornaments were proceeds of crime and were being depicted by the petitioner as untainted property. 30. It has been submitted that the cash seized from the petitioner is only to the tune of Rs 5 Lakh which can be answered by the fact that petitioner is having an annual income of Rs 15 Lakhs per annum and is a businessman which can be seen by the ITR Filling of the accused....
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....zen using fake documents. (v) In his statement, Rony Mondal admitted that he did not possess a license for the gun recovered from his residence along with nine live bullets, both of which were kept illegally. (vi) The cash amounting to 5 lakhs was seized during the search, including fresh Rs.500 notes in consecutive serial numbers. The petitioner claimed he had a personal interest in collecting new currency and exchanging old notes for new ones, but he was unable to provide any documentary proof for this claim. (vii) The petitioner has also admitted to having previously obtained ration against forged ration cards issued in his name and the names of his family members. (viii) During the course of the statement recorded under PMLA, it revealed that the accused Rony has amassed significant assets in India, including immovable properties such as land in Barrackpore (purchased in 2013 jointly with his mother, Jyostana Rani Mondal), land in Mohanpur (purchased in 2016-2017, where he constructed Jyotsana Villa Hostel in 2020- 2021) and land in Debpukur (purchased in 2020-2021 in his name). (ix) Learned counsel has submitted that the petitioner ....
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....tly with family members. He also confessed about evading taxes by under reporting his income in his Income Tax Returns (ITRs) while continuing to file fraudulent ITRs for family members to maintain their accounts in India. (xiv) It has further been submitted that the digital evidence was retrieved from a seized iPhone 14 Plus belonging to Rony Mondal. The device contained images of PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, and Bangladeshi passports belonging to his family members. The passports of his mother, wife, son, and daughter were found, with issuance dates ranging from 2019 to 2021. These documents listed Rony Mondal as the emergency contact, providing an address in Tanti Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a Bangladeshi phone number, which was saved as "Nandi Babu" in his mobile phone. (xv) Learned counsel for the E.D. has submitted that the evidence gathered during the search revealed that Rony Mondal was part of a larger syndicate operating across West Bengal and Jharkhand, facilitating the illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals into India. This network was engaged in various illicit activities and generated substantial proceeds of crime. The nature of the evidence cl....
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....ted to the above stated person. 44. Accordingly, the trial court has taken the cognizance of the aforesaid offence. Thereafter, petitioner had preferred the Misc. Cri. Application being MCA 222/2025 for his bail, which was dismissed vide Order dated 22.03.2025. 45. Hence the present application has been preferred before this Court for grant of regular bail. 46. Before appreciating to the aforesaid contention, the learned counsel for the parties, this Court thinks fit to refer the provision of law as contained under the Act, 2002 with its object and intent as also the legal proposition as settled by the Hon'ble Apex Court in various judgments. 47. The Act 2002, was enacted to address the urgent need to have a comprehensive legislation inter alia for preventing money-laundering, attachment of proceeds of crime, adjudication and confiscation thereof including vesting of it in the Central Government, setting up of agencies and mechanisms for coordinating measures for combating money-laundering and also to prosecute the persons indulging in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime. 48. It needs to refer herein the definition of "proceeds of crime" ....
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....means whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition or use and projecting or claiming it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering. 54. It is further evident that the process or activity connected with proceeds of crime is a continuing activity and continues till such time a person is directly or indirectly enjoying the proceeds of crime by its concealment or possession or acquisition or use or projecting it as untainted property or claiming it as untainted property in any manner whatsoever. 55. The various provisions of the Act, 2002 alongwith interpretation of the definition of "proceeds of crime" has been dealt with by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors., (2022) SCC OnLine SC 929 wherein the Bench comprising of three Hon'ble Judges of the Hon'ble Supreme Court have decided the issue by taking into consideration the object and intent of the Act, 2002. 56. The predicate offence has been consider....
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....by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors.(supra) for ready reference, the relevant paragraphs are being referred as under: "387.............The provision post the 2018 Amendment, is in the nature of no bail in relation to the offence of money laundering unless the twin conditions are fulfilled. The twin conditions are that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of offence of money laundering and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. Considering the purposes and objects of the legislation in the form of the 2002 Act and the background in which it had been enacted owing to the commitment made to the international bodies and on their recommendations, it is plainly clear that it is a special legislation to deal with the subject of money laundering activities having transnational impact on the financial systems including sovereignty and integrity of the countries. This is not an ordinary offence. To deal with such serious offence, stringent measures are provided in the 2002 Act for prevention of money laundering and combating menace of money laundering, including for attachm....
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....n application for bail made under Section 439 Cr. P.C. in view of the overriding effect given to the PML Act over the other law for the time being in force, under Section 71 of the PML Act. 62. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the said judgment has further laid down that the 'twin conditions' as to fulfil the requirement of Section 45 of the Act, 2002 before granting the benefit of bail is to be adhered to which has been dealt with by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors.(supra) wherein it has been observed that the accused is not guilty of the offence and is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. 63. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Gautam Kundu vs. Directorate of Enforcement (Prevention of Money-Laundering Act), Government of India through Manoj Kumar, Assistant Director, Eastern Region, (2015) 16 SCC 1 has been pleased to hold at paragraph - 30 that the conditions specified under Section 45 of PMLA are mandatory and need to be complied with, which is further strengthened by the provisions of Section 65 and also Section 71 of PMLA. Section 65 requires that the provisions of Cr.P.C shall apply insofar as they are not i....
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....der the purview of category 'c' wherein while laying observing that in the UAPA Act, it comes under the category 'c' which also includes money laundering offence wherein the bail has been directed to be granted if the investigation is complete but the Hon'ble Apex Court in Gurwinder Singh vs. State of Punjab and Anr. (supra) has taken the view by making note that the penal offences as enshrined under the provision of UAPA are also under category 'c' making reference that jail is the rule and bail is the exception. 67. Now adverting to the fact of the present case. The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the allegation leveled against the present petitioner cannot be said to attract the ingredient of Section 3 of PMLA. 68. While on the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the ED has submitted by referring to various paragraphs of prosecution complaint that the offence is very much available attracting the offence under provisions of PML Act. 69. This Court, in order to appreciate the rival submission, is of the view that various paragraphs of prosecution complaint upon which the reliance has been placed on behalf of both the parties, needs to ....
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....iness and his annual income is around Rs. 15 lakhs. Further, during his statement, the accused Rony Mor dal admitted to contacting brokers to obtain fake documents, paying various amounts for each document, and later acquiring a fake passport in 2008. 8.33 During the course of search at the residence of the accused person Rony Mondal, a Show-cause was recovered which had been issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India, wherein, the contents of the letter issued by Regional Passport Office (Kolkata) bearing ref. no. R- 612/FM5018/19/IW/2987 dated 30.08.2019 was quoted as - "The applicant, te., Sh. Rony Mondal, is a Bangladeshi National as per profiling and immigration data available with Immigration Office. It was further alleged that the applicant had acquired the Indian Passport on production of Indian documents acquired on the basis of false statements. The Oo Foreigner's Regional Registration Officer, Kolkata to substantiate this claim, had quoted the Bangladeshi passports issued in r/o applicant's parents" EVIDENCE SEIZED DURING SEARCH FROM THE PREMISES UNDER THE USE AND OCCUPATION OF RONY MONDAL EVIDENCE 15 D....
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....legal infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals into India for the purpose of carrying out illicit activities in lieu of generating proceeds of crime. Hence, the said Accused persons are knowingly and directly involved in processes and activities connected with the generation and acquisition of proceeds of crime as well as their use which are derived out of illegal activities which are scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002. The generation, acquisition and use of the proceeds of crime out of the above-stated activities are corroborated by the seizure of mobile phones containing various incriminating chats relating to monetary transactions in lieu of above-stated illegal activities including prostitution by these girls. During the course of searches, documents have also been recovered which contain the details/list of the payments in lieu of the prostitution racket being run by the above syndicate by the involvement of the above-mentioned Bangladeshi Nationals. 10. PROCESS AND ACTIVITY CONNECTED WITH PROCEEDS OF CRIME AND ROLE OF THE ACCUSED PERSONS IN OFFENCE OF MONEY LAUNDERING - The processes and activities connected with the proceeds o....
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....rated into India and obtained Aadhaar card, PAN card, an Indian passport, in fraudulent manner to pose as an Indian citizen. Proceeds of crime amounting to Rs. Rs. 7,21,19,030/-has been deposited in cash which have been identified in his bank accounts. During a search conducted on 12.11.2024 at premises of the accused person Rony Mondal, Bangladeshi passports, a fake Indian passport, unauthorized arms and ammunition, gold jewelry, and in proceeds of crime in cash amounting to 25 lakh were recovered and seized, which were beyond explanation. The accused person Rony Mondal has also acquired an immovable property in North 24 Parganas, Kolkata. He was directly a party with Bangladeshi nationals for their illegal entry into India and was part of the syndicate which operate illegally in India for generating and acquiring proceeds of crime using fake Indian identity documents. The same is also established from the transactions in the bank accounts under his use and control. Thus, the accused person Rony Mondal is directly involved in the acquisition, possession, use, concealment, and projection of proceeds of crime as untainted property. By these acts, he has committed t....
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....idence meticulously but to arrive at a finding on the basis of broad probabilities and Court should not venture into the merit of the case by analyzing that whether conviction is possible or not. Meaning thereby at this stage the Court has to see the prima facie case only. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors(supra) has observed that the Court while dealing with the application for grant of bail need not to delve deep into the merits of the case and only a view of the court based on available material on record is required. 76. From the record prima facie it appears that the petitioner is directly indulged in all the activities connected with the offence of money laundering as defined u/s 3 of PMLA, 2002.Further, the role of the petitioner in the laundering of proceeds of crime generated out of the commission of scheduled offence has been discussed in detail in the prosecution complaint as the paragraphs of the prosecution complaint abovementioned. 77. It requires to refer herein that by virtue of Section 24 of the PMLA, the respondent ED is not required to conclusively establish the applicant's guilt at the pr....
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....acquired Indian citizenship fraudulently on the basis of false documentation and indulged in illegal activities pertaining to illegally acquiring Indian citizenship as well as aiding several other Bangladeshi in illegal infiltration in India. Further in his statement dated 20.11.2024, the petitioner had confirmed that the documents-PAN cards, voter cards, Aadhaar cards, and ration cards-recovered during the search on 12.11.2024 belonged to his family members. He acknowledged that, while opening bank accounts in India, he declared himself an Indian citizen, using his PAN card as proof of identity. Furthermore, he stated that he had an Indian passport, while his family members held Bangladeshi passports. 83. Further from perusal of the material available on record it is revealed that the total cash deposits in the accounts held and used by the present petitioner is Rs. 7,21,19,030/- in the bank accounts identified as on the day of investigation 84. Therefore, in the aforesaid circumstances the presumption under Section 24 of the Act 2002 is available herein. 85. Further the learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that since the name of the petitioner is not transpir....
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....nce under Section 3 can be committed after a scheduled offence is committed. By giving an example, it has been clarified that if a person who is unconnected with the scheduled offence, knowingly assists the concealment of the proceeds of crime or knowingly assists the use of proceeds of crime, in that case, he can be held guilty of committing an offence under Section 3 of the PMLA. Therefore, it is not necessary that a person against whom the offence under Section 3 of the PMLA is alleged must have been shown as the accused in the scheduled offence. For ready reference relevant paragraphs are being quoted as under: "15. The condition precedent for the existence of proceeds of crime is the existence of a scheduled offence. On this aspect, it is necessary to refer to the decision of this Court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary [Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India, (2023) 12 SCC 1]. In para 109 of the said decision [Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India, (2023) 12 SCC 1] this Court held thus : (SCC p. 166) "109. Tersely put, it is only such property which is derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of criminal activity relating to a schedu....
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....rocess or activity can be indulged in only after the property is derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity (a scheduled offence). It would be an offence of money-laundering to indulge in or to assist or being party to the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime; and such process or activity in a given fact situation may be a continuing offence, irrespective of the date and time of commission of the scheduled offence. In other words, the criminal activity may have been committed before the same had been notified as scheduled offence for the purpose of the 2002 Act, but if a person has indulged in or continues to indulge directly or indirectly in dealing with proceeds of crime, derived or obtained from such criminal activity even after it has been notified as scheduled offence, may be liable to be prosecuted for offence of money laundering under the 2002 Act - for continuing to possess or conceal the proceeds of crime (fully or in part) or retaining possession thereof or uses it in trenches until fully exhausted. The offence of money-laundering is not dependent on or linked to the date on which the scheduled offence, or if we may say so, the predicate offe....
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....PMLA). Further, when a scheduled offence is registered as in FIR No. 188/2024 under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 of the IPC, Section 12 of the Passports Act, and Section 14A of the Foreigners Act, the Enforcement Directorate is empowered to trace the proceeds of crime and identify all persons involved, regardless of whether they were specifically named in the FIR. 92. From the preceding paragraphs it is evident that the Hon'ble Apex Court has observed that an accused under PMLA need not necessarily be named in the scheduled offence if they are involved in laundering proceeds of crime. The Hon'ble Court clarified that the offence of money laundering is independent of the predicate offence. An accused need not be part of the initial crime to be held liable for laundering the proceeds; the focus of the law is on the act of concealing, possessing, or converting the proceeds of crime. Thus, even those who facilitate this process, without being involved in the original criminal activity, are liable for prosecution under PMLA. 93. Therefore, on the basis of the discussion made hereinabove the contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is not fit to be accepted. 94. This ....
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....sonable grounds to believe that the accused has not committed the offence and that there is no likelihood of him committing an offence while on bail. Recently, in Tarun Kumar v Assistant Directorate of Enforcement, (supra) the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held as under: "17. As well settled by now, the conditions specified under Section 45 are mandatory. They need to be complied with. The Court is required to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of such offence and he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. It is needless to say that as per the statutory presumption permitted under Section 24 of the Act, the Court or the Authority is entitled to presume unless the contrary is proved, that in any proceedings relating to proceeds of crime under the Act, in the case of a person charged with the offence of money laundering under Section 3, such proceeds of crime are involved in money laundering. Such conditions enumerated in Section 45 of PML Act will have to be complied with even in respect of an application for bail made under Section 439 Cr. P.C. in view of the overriding effect given to the PML Act over the oth....