TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 1277
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....mplaint of one Sri Dilip Sharma, Tax Collector, Ranchi Municipal Corporation for submission of forged papers i.e. Aadhar Card, Electricity Bill and Possession letter for obtaining holding number 0210004194000A1 and 0210004031000A5. Investigation revealed that by submitting the forged documents, a holding number was obtained in name of Pradeep Bagchi for property at Morabadi Mouza, Ward No. 21/19, Ranchi having an area of the plot measuring 455.00 decimals approx. 4. Investigation further revealed that the above property belonged to Late B.M. Laxman Rao which was given to the Army and had been in the possession of the Defence, in occupation of the Army since independence. Investigation reveals that by way of creating a fake owner (Pradeep Bagchi) of the above said property, it was sold to one company M/s Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd for which the consideration amount was shown Rs. 7 crores which was highly under value and out of this amount Rs. 7 crores payment amounting to Rs. 25 lakhs only were made into the account of said Pradeep Bagchi and rest of the money was falsely shown to be paid through cheques in the sale deed being deed no.- 6888 of 2021. 5. It has come during inv....
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....n as much as such allegations falls out of the essential ingredients for offence of money laundering u/s 3 of the PMLA. (iv) It is further submitted that it is the case of the prosecution that for acquiring the said property only an amount of Rs. 25.00 lacs (out of the agreed sale consideration of Rs. 700.00 lacs) has been paid by M/s Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. to the petitioner out of the deposit of cash in the bank account of M/s Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd., thus, by no stretch of imagination can it be alleged that entire value of the said property as defined in Section 2(1)(b) of the PMLA amounts to "proceeds of crime", particularly when it has been revealed during investigation that the petitioner never had any title over the said property. (v) It is submitted that since Pradip Bagchi did not have the title over the said property, no title can be passed to M/s Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. and in such an event, how the entire value of the said property can be termed as "proceeds of crime" has been wrongly alleged in the prosecution complaint. (vi) Learned counsel for the petitioner has also raised the ground that the petitioner cannot be deprived of his cons....
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....med him that Dilip Ghosh wanted to make an agreement for the purported due of Rs. 6.75 crores and according to them which shall be paid after the possession of the said land. (iii) It has further been submitted that Para 9.3.1 of the prosecution complaint transpires that the sale deed of property in possession of the defence was executed on 01st October, 2021 and the consideration amount of the property was shown as Rs. 7 crores, however, the government value/market value of the said property as declared in the deed was Rs. 20,75,84,200/-. Dilip Kumar Ghosh representing M/s Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. purportedly issued 11 cheques of IDFC First Bank Account No. 10060532973 total amount of Rs. 7 crores. (iv) It has further been submitted that Para 9.3.2 of the prosecution complaint reveals that only one cheque bearing no. 461153 of amount Rs. 25 lacs credited into the account of Pradip Bagchi/petitioner by HDFC Cheque No. 461153 and rest of the money falsely shown to be paid in the deed no. 6888 of 2021 through above cheques. (v) It is evident that the declaration of payment of full amount of 7 crores by the purchaser Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. represented by accuse....
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....9;ble Apex Court in various judgments. 18. 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. 19. From bare perusal of Section 2(1)(u) of the 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 or where such property is taken or held outside the country, then the property equivalent in value held within the country or abroad. 20. The "property" has been defined under Section 2(1)(v) which means any property or assets of every description, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible and includes deeds and instruments evidencing title to, or interest in, such property or assets, wherever locate....
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....f conditions under section 19 and subject to the conditions enshrined under this section. 24. It needs to refer herein that the Hon'ble Apex Court in Satender Kumar Antil vs. CBI and Anr., (2022) 10 SCC 51 has passed the order that if the investigation has been completed and if there is full cooperation of the accused persons, there may not be any arrest. The Hon'ble Apex Court categorised the offences in different group for purpose of bail. The reference may be taken from Paragraph-2 of the aforesaid judgment which reads as under: "2. After allowing the application for intervention, an appropriate order was passed on 7-10-2021 [Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, (2021) 10 SCC 773 : (2022) 1 SCC (Cri) 153] . The same is reproduced as under : (Satender Kumar Antil case [Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, (2021) 10 SCC 773 : (2022) 1 SCC (Cri) 153], SCC pp. 774-76, paras 2-11) "2. We have been provided assistance both by Mr S.V. Raju, learned Additional Solicitor General and Mr Sidharth Luthra, learned Senior Counsel and there is broad unanimity in terms of the suggestions made by the learned ASG. In terms of the suggestions, the offences have been categorised and guidelines are sought to ....
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....s and settled law this court is now adverting to contention of the learned counsel for the parties. 26. It needs to refer herein that the co-accused person, namely, Dilip Kumar Ghosh has been granted bail by the co-ordinate Bench of this Court passed in B.A. No. 7233 of 2023 vide order dated 28.11.2023. 27. Further, another co-accused person, namely, Amit Kumar Agarwal has also been granted bail by the Hon'ble Supreme Court vide order dated 01.08.2025 passed in SLP (Crl.) No. 7799 of 2025 upon whom the allegation is that the address where books of accounts of the company M/s Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. (A-1) were maintained is the corporate office of various companies of Amit Kumar Agarwal and his brothers namely Amar Kumar Agarwal and Rajesh Agarwal. For ready reference, the order dated 01.08.2025 by which co-accused person, namely, Amit Kumar Agarwal has been granted bail, reads as under: "... 4. Admittedly, the appellant has been under incarceration for 2½ years. From the records, we gather that the trial would take considerable length of time, though it has been commenced. 5. Considering the above, we are inclined to set aside the impugned order and grant ba....