2024 (12) TMI 1716
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....dicherry S. Lakshmi 82,66,215 3. 15051/2007 19.07.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 1,50,080 4. 17052/2007 19.07.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 8,14,720 5. 17054/2007 19.07.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 6,43,200 6. 9693/2007 09.04.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 8,20,080 7. 9694/2007 09.04.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 5,36,000 8. 9695/2007 09.04.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 10,39,840 9. 9701/2007 09.04.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 80,255 10. 9702/2007 09.04.2007 Sriperumbudur, TN S. Lakshmi 70,337 11. 3145/2006 27.04.2006 RED HILLS R. Selvaraj 2,18,140 12. 5607/2006 14.07.2006 RED HILLS R. Selvaraj 4,97,144 13. 5608/2006 14.07.2006 RED HILLS R. Selvaraj 4,97,144 14. 6669/2006 22.08.2006 RED HILLS R. Selvaraj 43,831 15. 6670/2006 22.08.2006 RED HILLS R. Selvaraj 2,28,265 16. 6671/2006 22.08.2006 RED HILLS R. Selvaraj 81,435 {Property at S. No. 2 is gifted by S. Lakshmi to her daughter S. Aishwarya vide ....
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....een filed by AP Police, before the Junior Civil Judge, Chittoor; (ii) FIR No. 102/2014 dated 20.05.2014 of Puthalput P.S., Chittoor District, A.P., wherein Charge Sheet vide CC No. 4203 of 2015 dated 29.10.2015 has been filed by AP Police, before the Junior Civil Judge, Chittoor. (iii) FIR No. 135/2014 dated 20.07.2014 of Puthalput P.S., Chittoor District, A.P., wherein Charge Sheet vide PRC No. 5265 of 2016 dated 30.11.2016 has been filed by AP Police, before the Junior Civil Judge, Chittoor. (iv) FIR No. 142/2014 dated 14.08.2014 of Puthalput P.S., Chittoor District, A.P., wherein Charge Sheet vide PRC No. 30054 of 2015 dated 22.09.2015 has been filed by AP Police, before the Junior Civil Judge, Chittoor. (v) FIR No. 170/2014 dated 16.07.2014 of Nagari P.S., Chittoor District, A.P., wherein Charge Sheet vide PRC No. 577 of 2019 dated 29.10.2018 has been filed by AP Police, before the Junior Civil Judge, Nagari. (vi) Further, Sri Selvaraj was also arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 18.12.2004 by the Chennai Customs Department in a case registered by them u/s. 132 & 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 for smuggling of red sanders, whi....
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....PMLA). After issuing the PAO No. 02 of 2022 on 28.03.2022, it was observed that three of the attached properties were purchased by Dr. P. Vishnu Anand, the appellant herein, on 15.03.2022, i.e., only a few days before the issuance of the PAO by the Respondent No.1. During the course of investigation, Sri R. Selvaraj, in his statements recorded u/s. 50(2) & 50(3) of the PMLA and through e-mail dated 18.03.2022 denied of ever owning the properties, which were sold to the appellant Dr. P. Vishnu Anand, despite the fact that Sri Selvaraj furnished his life certificate on 15.03.2022 (date of registration of the so-claimed purchase by the appellant Dr. P. Vishnu Anand) to the Sub-Registrar office for effecting the sale, three days before sending the e-mail. Since the properties purchased by the appellant Dr. P. Vishnu Anand forms part of POC, the appellant was made Defendant No.6 in the Original Complaint No. 1702/2022, filed before the Ld. Adjudicating Authority (PMLA). On receipt of the OC, the Ld. Adjudicating Authority (PMLA) issued notices under section 8(1) of the PMLA to the defendants, calling upon them to indicate source of income for acquiring the assets etc. and di....
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.... (PMLA) on 19.10.2022 vide Appeal No. 4976 of 2022. 3. The learned counsel for the appellant Dr. P. Vishnu Anand submitted that he is a bonafide purchaser of the property, for he being a doctor, he wanted to build a hospital and hence, purchased the impugned land from a company, namely- M/s Ishwarya Lakshmi Properties Private Limited (hereinafter M/s Ishwarya) who had the power of attorney for the land owner, namely- Mr. R Selvaraj(2nd Respondent). He further submitted that the appellant is in no way connected to the offences either under the PMLA or in the said FIR No. 64/2014 dated 29.08.2014 and also that he is not in any way associated with said Selvaraj who is an accused in the FIR No. 64/2014 dated 29.08.2014 u/s 307,353,379,411 IPC read with Section 34 of the IPC and Section 32 & 29 Andhra Pradesh Sandalwood and Red Sandalwood Transit Rules of Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1969, and Section 29 of Wildlife Protection Act,1972, Section 55(2) and 58 of Biodiversity Act 2002 and Section 27 of Arms Act 1959. Moreover, R. Selvarj was discharged by the Trial Court in the Scheduled Offence in FIR 64/2014 and thus, no offence u/s. 5 of the PMLA lies against the Appellant Dr. P. Vi....
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.... registration of sale deeds and nowhere in his reply did he mention that the payment of sale consideration was made after two and a half months from the date of registration of sale deeds. Further, the appellant has claimed that he could not arrange money by the time of registration and his father too did not have money to lend to the appellant, however, his father was able to amass huge amount of Rs. 94 lac within a period of three months itself (march 2022 to June 2022). This also raises concern over the source of money given by appellant in lieu of sale consideration. Moreover, the said sale was made 13 days prior to the date of attachment proceedings and is a step taken in furtherance to vitiate the proceedings of PAO. Further, it is argued that the appellant bought the properties from a so-claimed GPA - Holder (not Sale-cum-GPA) instead of the actual owner, Sri R. Selvaraj. Moreover, Sri R. Selvaraj denied ownership of the said properties several times before and after the so-claimed sale of those properties without receiving any sale consideration. However, as per the Encumbrance Certificates the properties were owned by Sri R. Selvaraj, until the date of transfer. Also, the ....
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....o defeat the proceedings of the PMLA. He further submitted that Section 5 of PMLA provides for the provisional attachment of proceed of crime which are in possession of any person irrespective of whether the said person is charged with the offence of scheduled crime, if the said proceeds of crime are likely to be concealed, transferred or dealt with in any manner which may result in frustration of proceedings of confiscation. In furtherance of the same, the Ld. Counsel for respondent cited the judgement of Radha Mohan Lakhotia v. Deputy Director (First Appeal No. 527 of 2010) in para 11that 'The proceeds of crime may be or can be in possession of any person. Be it a person charged of having committed a scheduled offence or otherwise'. The same was upheld in the case of Vijay Madanlal Chowdhary v. Union of India, SLP (Crl) No. 4634 of 2014 in Para 65. Hence, even if the appellant is not charged with scheduled offence or is not named in either the FIR or ECIR, his properties can still be attached as per the provisions and judgments mentioned above. 5. After hearing the rival submissions, we have given our thoughtful consideration to the same. In the present case, appellant has ....
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....IR. Further, the appellant has contended that there exists no credible material to link the appellant or his said properties to the said R. Selvaraj or any crime committed by the said R. Selvaraj and that he has purchased the said properties from M/s Ishwarya by making a payment via cheques and that he had no link with Sri R. Selvaraj. Further he also stated that he exercised due diligence before purchasing the properties and he enquired about the same with the sub registrar office from where he found that the said properties were bought by Mr. R. Selvaraj in 2006 via sale deed dated 14/07/2006 bearing document no. 3145/2006 and sale deed bearing document no. 5608/2006 and 5607/2006 and after that 3 GPA were issued in the name of M/s Ishwarya for consideration of Rs. 92lac via GPA dated 21/08/2006 for document no. 1354/2006(bearing survey no.69/5A), GPA Dated 25/10/2012 for document no. 2450/2013 for 50 cents of land bearing survey no. 83/2B4A and GPA dated 2449/2012 for another 50 cents of land bearing no. 83/2B4A, who further sold these to the appellant for the consideration of Rs. 98 lac, which was paid two and half months after the registration of the sale deed because his l....
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