2025 (12) TMI 372

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....AOR, Ms. Anushka Gupta, Adv., Ms. Aakriti Mishra, Adv.,Ms. Sweety Chauhan, Adv.   ORDER PER AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. Leave granted. 2. The present appeal seeks the grant of regular bail to the Appellant in connection with ECIR No. JPZO/29/2023 dated 21.08.2023, registered by the Directorate of Enforcement under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 (for short, "PMLA"). 3. The Appellant, Mahesh Joshi, served as Minister, Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED), Government of Rajasthan. He was arrested on 24.04.2025. His bail applications were rejected by the Trial Court and subsequently by the High Court on 26.08.2025. The Appellant has therefore approached this Court seeking relief. 4. We have heard M....

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....tmental action by suspending officials, blacklisting firms and causing registration of FIRs relating to forged certificates. These steps negate any inference of personal benefit. 9. The Appellant is 71 years old, has deep roots in society, and has cooperated throughout the investigation. He availed interim bail on two occasions and surrendered punctually, without any allegation of misuse. 10. Furthermore, attention is drawn to the documentary nature of the case, wherein large number of pages, witnesses and documents are cited by the prosecution, and that the matter remains at the stage of supply of copy of the police report and other documents under Section 207, Code of Criminal Procedure (for short, "CrPC"). It is urged that the tria....

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.... Court further emphasised that Section 45(1)(ii) of the PMLA cannot be interpreted to justify indefinite detention in cases involving voluminous, document-heavy material where trial is unlikely to begin promptly. The present case, in our view, stands on a similar footing. Para 27 of V. Senthil Balaji (supra) reads as follows: "27. Under the Statutes like PMLA, the minimum sentence is three years, and the maximum is seven years. The minimum sentence is higher when the scheduled offence is under the NDPS Act. When the trial of the complaint under PMLA is likely to prolong beyond reasonable limits, the Constitutional Courts will have to consider exercising their powers to grant bail. The reason is that Section 45(1)(ii) does not confe....

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....on 45(1)(ii) to become instruments in the hands of the ED to continue incarceration for a long time when there is no possibility of a trial of the scheduled offence and the PMLA offence concluding within a reasonable time. If the Constitutional Courts do not exercise their jurisdiction in such cases, the rights of the undertrials under Article 21 of the Constitution of India will be defeated. In a given case, if an undue delay in the disposal of the trial of scheduled offences or disposal of trial under the PMLA can be substantially attributed to the accused, the Constitutional Courts can always decline to exercise jurisdiction to issue prerogative writs. An exception will also be in a case where, considering the antecedents of the accused,....