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TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (1) TMI 1599
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....ale irregularity/criminality in the death claim cases filed, processed and decided at Railway Claims Tribunal, Patna (RCT) against unknown public servants of Railway, the petitioner and others under Section 120-B, 420 of the IPC and Section 7A of PC Act. As per the FIRs, during the period 2015 to 2017, unknown public servants of Railway conspired with claimant's advocates Kumari Rinki Sinha, the petitioner and their team. In pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy, in accidental death claim cases, only a part of the decreed amount, actually awarded to the claimants, was received by the claimants and major chunk was siphoned off by the conspiratos. Altogether 2436 decree cases out of 2636 cases, were disposed during the tenure of single member bench of Shri. R.K. Mittal, Hon'ble member judicial, RCT, Patna In 18 months with average of 135 decree approx per month, whereas prior to that this average was around 56 between April, 2014 to September 2015. In these orders issued by Shri R.K. Mittal it was directed that the applicant would submit details of bank account duly verified by the conducting lawyer. Accordingly, in pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy said advocates and the....
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.... the complaint and has been falsely implicated in this case without any basis. The petitioner never used to talk directly with the client rather it was petitioner's junior and clerk who used to conduct client dealing in which petitioner has no role, despite that, the petitioner has been made accused in the case. Initially, the CBI conducted investigation from the angle of corruption and an inquiry was also held against Shri R.K. Mittal, Member (Judicial), RCT, Patna in which the petitioner was called as witness to depose in the said inquiry. The petitioner has only charged a fee to any claimant for handling his case. No other amount has been received by the petitioner from them. The bank account was opened as per the convenience and consent of the claimant. There was no response of any kind from the petitioner. No fake document of any kind was used by the petitioner in opening the bank account. All the documents were of the client and the client himself was present. 7. It has further been submitted that no written complaint or objection of any kind has been made anywhere against the petitioner. All the money that has been received by the petitioner is private money and part of t....
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....ached them for filing their claim in the Railway Claims Tribunal. These advocates and their staffs asked them to visit the office, were made to put their signatures on the number of papers including banking instruments and blank papers. Claimants were never informed about the exact amount of claim that they would be getting. These advocates and their staff opened bank accounts in the name of these Claimants without their knowledge. Claimants were unaware of these Bank Accounts. Claimants stated that the documents on which Bidyanand Singh and his staff had initially taken their signature at his office must have been used to open these bank accounts without their knowledge. They also stated that they were unaware of the claim amount credited in their bank accounts. Some of them received meagre money from these advocates as compensation amount. Some of them received this meagre amount only after the initiation of investigation by CBI regarding this fraud. 10. Further, during the course of investigation, bank accounts of Bidyanad Singh (the petitioner) were analysed and the relevant transactions were confronted by him during his statement dated 03.02.2025 and 04.02.2025 recorded und....
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....A Act who has also stated that claimants were unaware of the exact compensation amount or the fees retained by Bidyanand Singh. He confirmed that some amounts were withdrawn in cash and handed over to Bidyanand Singh's office for disbursement to claimants. 13. Sudhir Kumar, former Branch Manager of Canara Bank, Mithapur, has also given his statement recorded under Section 50 of PMLA and has stated that the petitioner, a lawyer handling railway claims, opened around 30-40 bank accounts for claims with himself or Vijay Kumar as the introducer. Most claimants never visited the bank, and withdrawals were made without their knowledge using pre-signed cheques or withdrawal forms. Bidyanand Singh and his associates frequently visited the bank and facilitated transactions. 14. During the course of search, action conducted by Directorate on 22.01.2025 at the premises of Vijay Kumar, files containing documents related to Railway Claims Tribunal claims were seized under the provisions of PMLA, 2002. In the said file, handwritten account of money received by one claimant Sundari Devi is written wherein it is mentioned that Sundari Devi and her sons received Rs. 4,70,300/- as compensation....
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....ins to the offence of money laundering reads as under:- "3. Offence of money-laundering. - Whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition or use and projecting or claiming it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering. Explanation. -For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that, (i) a person shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering if such person is found to have directly or indirectly attempted to indulge or knowingly assisted or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in one or more of the following processes or activities connected with proceeds of crime, namely: - (a) concealment; or (b) possession; or (c) acquisition; or (d) use; or (e) projecting as untainted property; or (f) claiming as untainted property, in any manner whatsoever; (ii) the process or activity connected with proceeds of crime is a continuing activity and continues till such time a person ....
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....eant that all offences under this Act shall be cognizable offences and non-bailable offences notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), and accordingly the officers authorised under this Act are empowered to arrest an accused without warrant, subject to the fulfillment of conditions under section 19 and subject to the conditions enshrined under this section." 19. In the case of Vijay Madan Lal Choudhary & Others vs. Union of India reported in 2022 SCC Online SC Page 929. A three judge bench of the Apex Court has considered a provisions of PMLA in detail. 20. After considering the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, with regard to the interpretation of Section 3 of the said Act, it was held therein as under:- "269. From the bare language of Section 3 of the 2002 Act, it is amply clear that the offence of money-laundering is an independent offence regarding the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime which had been derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity relating to or in relation to a scheduled offence. The process or activity can be in any form be it one of conc....