TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (2) TMI 185
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.... before different predecessor benches, and first effective hearing before me took place on 17.01.2026, when after hearing learned senior counsel for accused/ applicants as well as learned counsel for the Directorate of Enforcement (DoE), the matters were reserved for orders. 1.2 From January 2025 till 15.10.2025, despite there being no interim protection from arrest, DoE opted not to arrest either of the accused persons. By way of order dated 15.10.2025, the predecessor bench directed that subject to joining investigation, the accused/applicants shall not be arrested till next date, which order continues. 2. Broadly speaking, prosecution case as culled out of the Prosecution Complaint No. ECIR/HIU-1/07/2024 dated 28.03.2024 under Section 44 read with Section 45 and Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) is as follows. 2.1 The CBI registered two cases bearing RC No.2212022E0041 dated 26.08.2022 for offence under Section 120B read with Section 420 IPC and Section 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, and RC No.2212023E0036 dated 27.12.2023 for offence under Section 403 read with 120B IPC and Section 420 IPC and Section 66D of the Informati....
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....ouse of accused Ashok Kumar Sharma, Indian currency of Rs. 9,50,000/- was recovered; and from the house of accused Rakesh Karwa, Indian currency of Rs. 37,50,000/- was recovered. Both the said accused persons fled the premises and were absconding at the time of filing Complaint. Similarly, during searches at premises of other accused persons, Indian as well as American currency was recovered. 2.7 On the basis of material collected during investigation, including statements of various persons, summons under Section 50 of PMLA were issued to 58 individuals, including the present accused/applicants. Almost none of them complied with the summons. 2.8 The data retrieved from the impounded mobile phones was sent to Cyber Lab of DoE for forensic analysis. 2.9 In the course of investigation, accused Jitendra Kaswan, Ajay and Vipin Yadav were arrested and they were in judicial custody at the time of filing of the Complaint. 2.10 On the basis of detailed investigation, it was revealed that an organized criminal syndicate, with suspected foreign actors is indulged in large scale financial frauds in India, using variants of common modus operandi, whereby the victims are lured into ....
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....of investigation, DoE also recorded statement of accused Rohit Agarwal under Section 50 of PMLA in which he revealed the entire modus operandi of generation, layering and utilisation of the proceeds of crime. 2.13 The modus operandi adopted by the accused persons as revealed during investigation is as follows. An organized criminal syndicate being operated by Jeniffer, Alen, Tom Support, etc., through Telegram group hatched criminal conspiracy to cheat Indian public and fraudulently appropriate their money. They hired various individuals to arrange for opening a number of mule accounts in India on commission basis. Some of those hired persons, who got opened mule accounts in India, are the accused/applicants and other above named accused persons. The accused persons would first get enrolled with the Telegram group; for each accused person there was a separate group, for example, Jeniffer, and at times, Alen in case of Rohit Agarwal, would request for bank accounts by sending a message in the group. Thereafter, each accused person would arrange for bank accounts in India and would also procure the entire customer kit containing Debit Card, SIM card, net banking credentials, accou....
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.... was that it is a case of mere dealing in cryptocurrency, which per se is not an offence in this country and rather, the Finance Act, 2022 imposed tax on the crypto transactions after the RBI decision to ban cryptocurrency in this country was quashed by the Supreme Court. Learned senior counsel submitted that going by the case set up by prosecution side also, it is Rohit Agarwal, who was engaged in cryptocurrency transactions through 9 firms and till date, he has not been arrested. It was argued that till date, despite the investigation spanning across one and a half years, the DoE or the CBI have not been able to point out as to what was the exact source of funds allegedly laundered and by whom; there is no clarity for whom did the accused/applicants work. Even according to prosecution, the accused/applicants are at layer 03, whereas Rohit Agarwal is at layer 02 but there is no identity of layer 01, therefore, as per leaned senior counsel, the accused/applicants have lesser role as compared to Rohit Agarwal, who has not been arrested. It was also pointed out that co-accused Ajay and Vipin of Bijwasan Group have already been granted regular bail and it is on that basis, the accused....
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....itions before the Supreme Court are being listed shortly. Further, learned counsel for DoE also disclosed that even subsequent to last date of hearing in the present bail applications, new complaints of cheating were received and DoE needs to carry out custodial interrogation. Finally, it was argued that since fresh complaints of cheating are still pouring in and the investigation is continuing, these cases are not fit for grant of anticipatory bail. 4. In cases arising out of PMLA, grant or denial of bail and anticipatory bail is dealt with under Section 45 of the Act, which mandates the court dealing with the bail application to grant opportunity to the prosecutor to oppose the bail application; and the provision further lays down the twin test, on the anvil whereof, the case has to be tested before granting bail. The said twin test to allow bail to a person accused of an offence of money laundering is that there should be reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty of the offence of money laundering, and that the accused is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. The proviso to Section 45 of the Act confers discretion on the special court constituted ....
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....cused, as well as nature and the manner in which he is alleged to have committed the offence under PMLA. To add a piece of caution, the court is not required to return a positive finding that the accused did not commit the alleged offence. A delicate balance has to be maintained between the final judgment of acquittal or conviction and an order granting or denying bail. The twin conditions stipulated under Section 45 of the Act would apply to anticipatory bail application also, in addition to the regular parameters like nature of accusation, severity of punishment, nature of material collected by investigator, reasonable apprehension of tampering with the witnesses, reasonable possibility of securing presence of the accused at the time of trial, character of the accused and larger interest of public or State, etc. 4.2 Coming to the argument of learned senior counsel for accused/ applicants that in the recent past there has been dilution of the twin conditions stipulated under Section 45 of PMLA, the said dilution, according to him is by way of settled view of the Supreme Court, followed by different High Courts across the country to the effect that prolonged incarceration overri....
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....h 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 attachment and confiscation of proceeds of crime and to prosecute persons involved in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime. In view of the gravity of the fallout of money laundering activities having transnational impact, a special procedural law for prevention and regulation, including to prosecute the person involved, has been enacted, grouping the offenders involved in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime as a separate class from ordinary criminals. The offence of money-laundering has been regarded as an aggravated form of crime "world over". It is, therefore, a separate class of offence requiring effective an....
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....ring has to be tested on "reasonable grounds", which means something more than "prima facie" grounds. Equally well settled is the scope of Section 24 of the PML Act that unless contrary is proved, the Court shall presume involvement of proceeds of crime in money laundering; and that burden to prove that the proceeds of crime are not involved is on the accused. 9.3 Further, it is trite that economic offences constitute an altogether distinct class of offences. That being so, in spite of the salutary doctrine of "bail is the rule and jail is an exception", matters of bail in cases involving socio-economic offences have to be visited with a different approach, as held in State of Bihar & Anr. vs Amit Kumar (2017) 13 SCC 751. 9.4 As held by the Supreme Court in the case of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy vs CBI, (2013) 7 SCC 439: "15) Economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. The economic offence having deep rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds needs to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a whole and thereby posing se....
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....onsisting of amongst others, one Rohit Agarwal, and the present accused/applicants fall in 3rd layer vertically. With regard to some of the transactions, the present accused/applicants also fall in 2nd layer of laundering, horizontal to Rohit Agarwal in the sense that with respect to those cases, money was received by the present accused/ applicants not from Rohit Agarwal but directly from the apex syndicate based outside India. 7. As also described above, investigation to unfold the further vertical and horizontal layers of money laundering is ongoing. Fresh complaints of cheating acts connected with the syndicate, of which the accused/applicants are significant part, continue to pour in. That being so, keeping in mind the above described complexities of crime, the need expressed by DoE to carry out custodial interrogation of the accused/applicants does not sound unreasonable. More so, in view of the explicit stand of DoE that the accused/applicants not just wiped out all their electronic devices to destroy evidence but also assaulted officials of DoE and are engaged in bribing the local police officials in order to make the complainants settle the disputes. 8. The request o....
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....ends to secure several purposes including information leading to discovery of relevant information. The court must strike a balance between right of an individual to personal freedom and right of the investigating agency to interrogate the accused as regards the material collected and to obtain more information which could lead to recovery of further information. Therefore, I find substance in the argument advanced on behalf of DoE that it would not be possible for the investigators to effectively interrogate the accused/applicants if they have pre-arrest protection in their pocket. Of course, liberty of an individual is sacrosanct, but the court cannot brush aside the requirement to carry out meaningful interrogation and investigation in the larger interest of economy of the country. 11. Further, in view of the factual matrix described above, it would also be necessary for DoE to investigate deeply and unearth the roles of different bank officials, without whose active or passive involvement (if not connivance), opening of mule accounts would not have been possible. According to material on record, analysis of the suspect bank accounts revealed several converging patterns in....