TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 253
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....and Rs. 1000 were declared to be invalid and would cease to be legal tender from 09.11.2016. On 29.11.2016, three persons, namely, S/Shri Devender Kumar Jha, Mohit Garg and Raj Kumar Sharma, were stopped by the Police while they were travelling in a White Honda City car. The Police searched the car and found four bags containing cash worth Rs. 3,70,00,000/- (Rupees Three Crore Seventy Lakh Only) in the denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000. Along with this cash, 6 (Six) cheques of Axis Bank were also recovered from the car. Ld. Counsel submitted that on 30.11.2016, Respondent registered an ECIR bearing no. ECIR/11/DLZO/2016, and subsequently a Provisional Attachment Order dated 06.10.2017 was issued, without considering that the property of Appellant was not involved in money laundering and was, in no manner associated with the 'proceeds of crime', as alleged by the Respondent. In fact, the Appellant was not even named as an accused in the FIR No. 416 of 2016 and ECIR/11/DLZO/2016. 3. Ld. Counsel for the Appellant submitted that the property attached in the name of the Appellant is not derived from proceeds of crime as alleged by the Respondent. There is no reason to bel....
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.... Mohit Garg was working as an entry operator for assistance of Sh. Rajeev Kushwaha who had various fictitious Companies viz M/s Himalaya International, M/s R.D. Trader and M/s Sunrise Trading. Upon investigation it was revealed that Sh. Mohit Garg discussed with his friend to take illegal advantage of demonetization policy. They agreed to convert unaccounted demonetised currency into monetized form by way of depositing in front Companies of Sh. Rajeev Kushwaha. Sh. Mohit Garg and Sh. Rajeev Singh Kushwaha were known to the bank officials of Axis Bank and so they contacted bank official to get special facilities /assistance to put the illegal money back into the banking system to make it legal tender. In particular they contacted Shri Vineet Gupta, Branch Manager and Shri Shobhit Sinha, Operation Manager of Axis Bank to get special facilities. The Appellant initially charged 1% and subsequently 2% of total deposits. The Appellant provided Rs. 26.54 Crores to Sh. Mohit Garg for arrangement of RTGS into the account of bullion traders. Sh. Mohit Garg used to carry cash along with S/Shri Rajeev Singh Kushwaha, D. K. Jha and Raj Kumar Sharma for depositing in the account of shell firms i....
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....nk that Sh. Rajeev Singh Kushwaha had given Rs. 5,00,000/-and Rs. 12,00,000/- to Bank Manager Sh. Vineet Gupta on 11.11.2016 and 12.11.2016 respectively. Further on 20.11.2016 Sh. Mohit Garg had given one gold bar each to Sh. Shobhit Sinha and Sh. Vineet Gupta as commission. Accordingly, the Respondent issued Provisional Attachment Order No.01/2017 dated 27.01.2017 which was subsequently confirmed by the order passed by the Adjudicating Authority. Ld. Counsel prayed that the Appeal may be dismissed. 8. We have considered the rival submissions, the Impugned Order and the pleadings made in the Appeal and thereafter. We find it to be an undisputed fact that the present proceedings emanate from the events following the demonetization announced on 08.11.2016, pursuant to which currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 ceased to be legal tender. The recovery of a huge amount of demonetized currency from the intercepted vehicle on 29.11.2016, coupled with the registration of FIR No. 416 of 2016 and the subsequent ECIR, laid the foundation for investigation by the Enforcement Directorate into a well-organized racket for laundering unaccounted demonetized currency. 9. The principal conte....
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....ce with M/s Siddhi Vinayak. That deal was made with the help of Dalal Mr. Rakesh. That, he also contacted Sh. Amit Jain of M/s Aadi Traders for purchase of gold. He (Aadi Traders) agreed to provide gold at the rate of Rs. 31650/- per 10 gm. He arranged total RTGS of Rs. 14,79,43,200/- to M/s Aadi Traders from Beagle Marketing Pvt. Ltd. and took 24 kg of gold at the rate of Rs. 31,650/- per 10g from M/s Aadi Traders for the amount of Rs. 7,59,60,000/-. The rest of the amount Rs. 7,19,83,200/- was RTGS done for the commission at the rate of 3% and he made a profit of Rs. 26,33,532/- from M/s Aadi Traders. He purchased gold at the rate of Rs. 31,650/- per 10 gm and another 15% commission was given to Shri Mohit Garg and his associates. Therefore 1 Kg gold was procured by Shri Nitin Gupta for Rs. 31,65,000 + Rs. 5,58,500 = Rs. 37,23,500/- per Kg. He sold 20 kg gold to Sh. Shashank Jain at the rate of Rs. 45,000 per 10 gm for the total amount of Rs. 9,00,00,000/-. Those, 20 Kg gold, he purchased for the amount of Rs. 7,44,70,000/-. Therefore, he earned profit of Rs. 1,55,30,000/-. He sold 11 kg of gold to Shri Prateek Bansal for the amount of Rs. 5,37,50,000/- (6 kg at the rate of the R....
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.... Enforcement, Bhubaneshwar has dealt with the issue at some length. The relevant paragraphs of the Final Order are as under: "21. The issue aforesaid was not raised in the case of Pavana Dibbur (supra). The counsel appeared therein did not elaborately argue the issue by referring to the definition of "proceeds of crime" having three limbs to give meaning to each limb for the interpretation of the definition of the "proceeds of crime". The reference of Para 68 of the judgment of three judges Bench of the Apex Court in the case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary (supra) was not cited and thus counsel for the respondent submitted that the judgment in the case of Pavana Dibbur (supra) does not propound ratio on definition of "proceeds of crime" and, therefore, direction for the property acquired prior to commission crime is to be taken on facts of that case. 22. It has already been clarified by us that if the definition of "proceeds of crime" is given interpretation by dividing it into two parts or by taking only two limbs, then it would be easy for the accused to siphon off or vanish the proceeds immediately after the commission of scheduled offence and in that case none of....