TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (4) TMI 1516
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....ort, the PMLA), arise from a common order passed by the learned Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 {for short, the SAFEMA} at New Delhi (for short, the Appellate Tribunal), and all the appellants are family members and the issue and facts are also similar and interconnected, they were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. 3. The appellant, in MA No. 21/2026, has prayed for the following relief(s): "a. Allow the present Appeal; b. Pass an order setting aside the Impugned Final Order dated 16.10.2025 passed by the Hon'ble Appellate Tribunal under SAFEMA at New Delhi in FPA-PMLA-6921/RP/2023 titled "Tushar Sahu v. Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Raipur whereby the Appeal dismissed by the Hon'ble Appellate Tribunal and consequently, the Final Order dated 09.10.2023 passed by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority in Original Complaint No. 1988 of 2023 dated 28.05.2023 whereby the Ld. Adjudicating Authority confirmed the Provisional Attachment Order No. 02/2023 in ECIR/RPZO/09/2022 dated 29.09.2022 was upheld; c. Pass such other further order(s) as this....
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.... the Provisional Attachment Order No. 02/2023 in ECIR/RPZO/09/2022 dated 29.09.2022 was upheld; c. Pass such other further order(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and necessary in the interest of justice." 7. The appellant, in MA No. 25/2026, has prayed for the following relief(s): "a. Allow the present Appeal; b. Pass an order setting aside the Impugned Final Order dated 16.10.2025 passed by the Hon'ble Appellate Tribunal under SAFEMA at New Delhi in FPA-PMLA-6918/RP/2023 titled "Arun Kumar Sahu v. Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Raipur" whereby the Appeal dismissed by the Hon'ble Appellate Tribunal and consequently, the Final Order dated 09.10.2023 passed by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority in Original Complaint No. 1988 of 2023 dated 28.05.2023 whereby the Ld. Adjudicating Authority confirmed the Provisional Attachment Order No. 02/2023 in ECIR/RPZO/09/2022 dated 29.09.2022 was upheld; c. Pass such other further order(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and necessary in the interest of justice." 8. The appellant, in MA No. 26/2026, has prayed for the following relief(s): "a. Allow the present Appeal; b.....
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....terest of justice." 11. The appellant, in MA No. 29/2026, has prayed for the following relief(s): "a. Allow the present Appeal; b. Pass an order setting aside the Impugned Final Order dated 16.10.2025 passed by the Hon'ble Appellate Tribunal under SAFEMA at New Delhi in FPA-PMLA-6923/RP/2023 titled "REVTI SAHU v. Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Raipur" whereby the Appeal dismissed by the Hon'ble Appellate Tribunal and consequently, the Final Order dated 09.10.2023 passed by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority in Original Complaint No. 1988 of 2023 dated 28.05.2023 whereby the Ld. Adjudicating Authority confirmed the Provisional Attachment Order No. 02/2023 in ECIR/RPZO/09/2022 dated 29.09.2022 was upheld; c. Pass such other further order(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and necessary in the interest of justice." 12. Challenge in these appeals filed under Section 42 of the PMLA is to the common final order dated 16.10.2025 (hereinafter referred to as 'the impugned order) passed by the Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 {for short, the SAFEMA} at New Delhi (for short....
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....lant was not named in the FIR and further, no scheduled offence was disclosed in the FIR which was initially registered. It was only subsequently, vide Addendum dated 03.09.2022, that Section 384 IPC was added in the FIR. The appellant was not named even in the said Addendum. On 13.09.2022, OM in F.No. 289/ED/36/2022-IT (Inv. II) was forwarded by Central Board of Direct Taxes (for short, the CBDT) to the ED containing the FIR No. 129/2022 P.S. Kadugodi, along with a report on the investigation conducted by the Income Tax Department on M/s Jay Ambey Group of Raipur (Suryakant Tiwari Group). On 29.09.2022, ECIR/RPZO/09/2022 was registered by the ED, Raipur Zonal Office on the basis of Sections 120B and 384 IPC being a part of FIR 129/2022. The appellant-Ranu Sahu was not named in the said ECIR registered by the ED. On 14.10.2022, a search operation was conducted at the residence of the appellant-Ranu Sahu, i.e. the Collector's House, Raigarh, from where certain documents were seized. On 4 occasions i.e. 14.10.2022, 20.10.2022, 21.10.2022 and 28.10.2022, the appellant-Ranu Sahu duly complied with the summons issued by the ED and her statements under Section 50 of PMLA were recorded. T....
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....On 30.05.2023, the learned Special Court, PMLA, Raipur took cognizance of both the aforementioned PCs filed by the ED in the captioned ECIR. A show cause notice dated 07.06.2023 was issued to the appellant-Ranu Sahu by the learned AA under Section 8(1) of the PMLA calling upon the defendant therein to show cause why the PAO in respect of properties should not be confirmed as representing proceeds of crime (for short, the PoC) being value of properties involved in money laundering. The same was accompanied with purported reasons to believe under Section 8(1) of PMLA dated 05.06.2023 which does not even mention the name of the appellant herein, let alone bearing formation of belief of the learned AA to satisfy the test under Section 8(1) PMLA. On 15.06.2023, a charge-sheet/final report was filed in FIR No. 129/2022 registered at PS Kadugodi under Sections 204 and 353 IPC by the Karnataka State Police before Chief Judicial Magistrate Rural Court, Bengaluru against Suryakant Tiwari. No charge-sheet has been filed under any scheduled offence mentioned in the FIR i.e. under Sections 120B or 384 IPC. In fact, even cognizance has not been taken under any scheduled offence. Further, for the....
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....l arguments in OC No. 1988/2023, the learned AA passed the final order dated 09.10.2023 whereby it confirmed the PAO No. 02/2023 and allowed the OC No. 1988/2023 without returning any findings on the contentions raised by the appellant-Ranu Sahu. Ms. Gupta would submit that the confirmation order has been passed mechanically for 100 movable and immovable properties of all defendants therein, being a complete reproduction of the written averments made by both the appellant-Ranu Sahu and ED and devoid of any substantial application of mind or detailed reasoning by the learned AA. At this point, no scheduled offence was in existence and the PAO was erroneously confirmed by the learned AA. The appellant-Ranu Sahu preferred an appeal dated 01.12.2023 before the learned Appellate Tribunal under Section 26 (1) of PMLA against the Confirmation Order dated 09.10.2023 passed by the learned AA in OC No. 1988 of 2023 dated 28.05.2023 whereby the learned AA has confirmed the PAO No. 02/2023 in ECIR/RPZO/09/2022 dated 29.09.2022. 19. Ms. Gupta would further submit that to cure the defect of absence of a surviving scheduled offence in the Coal Levy, ECIR/RPZO/09/2022, FIR No. 03/2024 dated 17.....
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.... Permits was misutilized by the Coal Cartel to demand Rs. 25 per tonne illegally, failing which the NOC was either not issued, or delayed to render the Coal Delivery Order (CDO) useless. It is further alleged that Suryakant Tiwari, the head of this syndicate on ground, deployed his men in various districts of Chhattisgarh who were in direct physical contact with the district level mining officers or through whatsapp messages. It is further alleged that this system of collection of illegal cash was facilitated/ coordinated by Suryakant Tiwari on the ground, and the system ran with impunity and without any interruption because Suryakant Tiwari had the backing of the Highest powers in the state and due to Mis close association with Saumya Chaurasia and in turn with other senior IAS/IPS officers. It is further alleged that large amounts of cash was used to purchase land properties in the names of associates and distant relatives of Suryakant Tiwari, Saumya Churasia, Sameer Vishnoi and other associates of the syndicate. The circle/ guidance rate in Chhattisgarh is relatively low and it allowed the accused persons to purchase costly lands by giving only a small fraction of the purchase c....
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.... amount was handed over by the appellant to Suryakant Tiwari and his associates, and Rs. 5.52 Crores is the quantum of illegal collection performed by the appellant. The ED has alleged that the said amount of Rs. 5.52 Crores has been utilised by the appellant in purchase of land in the name of family as the cash could not have come from any other legal business of her family. appellant is alleged to have acquired several immovable properties in Chhattisgarh after 15.07.2020 through her family members who are purportedly benami holders for the appellant. The ED has proceeded to attach properties purchased between 2017-2021 belonging to the appellant and her family members in the nature of both direct proceeds of crime and value thereof to the tune of Rs. 5.52 Crores. The properties attached belonging to the appellant were purchased before 15.07.2020 i.e. the date of the purported predicate offence. 22. With respect to appellant(s) Tushar Sahu, Pankaj Kumar Sahu, Poonam Sahu, Piyush Kumar Sahu, Arun Kumar Sahu, Shalini Sahu, Laxmi Sahu and Revti Sahu, Ms. Gupta would submit that there is no allegation of involvement of these appellants in the scheduled offence or the offence of mo....
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....tached and 4 immovable properties allegedly purchased out of PoC i.e. after 15.07.2020 were also attached. In fact, two out of such properties do not even belong to either the family members/Ranu Sahu or anyone known. 24. With respect to the order passed by the learned Appellate Tribunal, Ms. Gupta would submit that the learned Appellate Tribunal failed to consider that the impugned order therein was ex-facie erroneous for being cryptic, unreasoned and templated, and therefore, liable aside. It was evident from the order that the contents of the OC, reply and rejoinder have been entirely reproduced along with the relevant statutory provisions and no appreciation of facts or law has been undertaken by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority, and no legitimate reasons whatsoever have been assigned for allowing the OC. The Order under S. 8(3) PMLA had been passed without returning any findings on the contentions raised by the appellants, both in pleadings and arguments. The learned Appellate Tribunal failed to appreciate that the order under Section 8(3) PMLA is in the teeth of the following view taken by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi vide Order dated 22.03.2023 in WP(C) No. 5744/2022 'St....
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....of the ED is that the syndicate of Suryakant Tiwari and his associates were collecting an additional illegal amount of Rs. 25/- per ton from coal user companies pursuant to the G.O. dated 15.07.2020 which introduced a requirement of getting a manual NOC from the mining section of DM's office. It is not anyone's case that the appellants, more so appellant-Ranu Sahu was involved in the issuance of such notification. The learned AA failed to appreciate that contrary to the ED's case that the appellant has aided Suryakant Tiwari and his associates in collection of illegal amounts, the appellants herein are not even an accused in the predicate offence and neither is the charge-sheet filed against her, let alone the charge-sheet not having been filed for any scheduled offence. The learned Appellate Tribunal failed to consider that the ED's case is that the appellant-Ranu Sahu aided and abetted Suryakant Tiwari in collection of such illegal amounts and to have received kickbacks in form of bribe which she gave to Rajnikant for safekeeping and amounts were spent by them as and when required according to the instructions of the appellant-Ranu Sahu. However, there has been no investigation i....
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....u Sahu, which are entirely unconnected with the proceeds of crime, can amount to the offence of money laundering. The learned Appellate Tribunal failed to appreciate that the ED has simply quantified the PoC to the tune of Rs. 5.52 Crores in relation to the appellant-Ranu Sahu solely on the basis of cryptic entries made by one Rajnikant Tiwari (brother of Suryakant Tiwari) in handwritten diaries maintained by him purportedly for unaccounted cash. There is nothing on record to show the veracity or genuineness of such entries. In fact, the PAO has been passed on the presumption that 'RS/Ranu/Ranu Mem' mean the appellant-Ranu Sahu on the basis of meaning given the predicate offence in the instant ECIR relates to the illegal collection of an additional Rs. 25 per ton of coal pursuant to the issuance of GO dated 15.07.2020 as it is ED's own case that 15.07.2020 is the date of commission of predicate offence. On the other hand, the ED has stated that the appellant has received huge bribe amounts not only in relation to the illegal levy for coal transportation but also in relation to allocation of DMF thereby exceeding the scope of the predicate offence and investigating when no such offe....
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....with Suryakant Tiwari and Roshan Singh is absolutely fallacious as the same does not bear any incriminating material so as to allege involvement of the appellant by way of abetment/facilitation of the alleged predicate offence of illegal coal levy. Without prejudice, at best, such chats show that the appellant had the purported conversation over Whatsapp with such persons, and nothing more. Further, the learned Appellate Tribunal failed to appreciate that Nikhil Chandraker's statement under Section 50 of PMLA which the ED has relied upon to show that collection of cash by him through from a person on behalf of the appellant is inadmissible, unreliable and coerced. On 14.01.2023, co-accused Nikhil Chandrakar filed a complaint against ED officials inter alia stating that the investigating officer had illegally detained him and that he was forced to sign back dated typed papers, give false statements against certain persons. 27. Ms. Gupta further would submit that there are fatal contradictions in the ED's case as on one hand, the ED has based their case against the appellant-Ranu Sahu on the basis of her being the District Collector of two highly significant districts for coal pro....
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....purchase of such properties, all of which have been bought prior to the proceeds having been dealt with by the appellant as per ED's own case. The learned AA failed to consider that contradictory stand taken by the ED as on one hand it is alleged that the bribe amount received by the appellant-Ranu Sahu used to be deposited with Suryakant Tiwari for safekeeping and the said amount was used as and when required/directed by the appellant-Ranu Sahu, and on the other hand, without any linkage, the ED has taken a leap to allege that it was Piyush Sahu, the brother of appellant-Ranu Sahu, who layered the bribe amounts (totalling to the tune of Rs. 5.52 Crores) in cash through CAs and entry providers to purchase properties in the name of family members of the appellant. There is nothing on record to connect the proceeds received by Suryakant Tiwari (purported PoC) to the tune of Rs. 5.52 Crores and its alleged utilisation through Piyush Sahu. In fact, the utilisation appears to predate the receipt of proceeds by Suryakant Tiwari. As per ED's own case, diary entries show that the alleged PoC were given by the appellant-Ranu Sahu to Suryakant Tiwari for safekeeping from October 2021-Apri....
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.... would have been the bribe money collected by Ms. Ranu Sahu for her active cooperation in the coal syndicate, "hence the only source of money for purchasing their properties would have been the bribe money collected by Ms. Ranu Sahu for her active cooperation in the syndicate" (quotes from OC). The Appellate Tribunal, without appreciating the material of record, has mechanically bifurcated the properties belonging to the appellant-Ranu Sahu and her family members based on its date of purchase. All properties purchased before 15.07.2020 have been attached as value thereof and the properties purchased after 15.07.2020 have been attached as 'direct PoC'. There has been no consideration of the fact the appellant-Ranu Sahu has been linked to the purported predicate offence as per ED's own case since June 2021, when she became the Collector of Korba, only after which she could have facilitated the collection of illegal levy by Suryakant Tiwari and Others, and received bribes in lieu of such aid. However, the learned Appellate Tribunal has upheld the erroneous action of learned AA whereby it has confirmed the attachment of properties as 'Direct PoC' which were bought after 15.07.2020 but ....
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....ment of properties by the ED in case charge-sheet had not been filed at the time of issuance of the PAO. It is to be noted that the instant PAO was passed on 08.05.2023 i.e. before the filing of the charge-sheet in the predicate offence. In any case, the charge-sheet in the purported predicate offence was only filed on 15.06.2023 under Sections 204 and 353 IPC which are not scheduled offences. Therefore, the present case is one of attachment without charge-sheet in the predicate offence, without prejudice to the contention that it is one of attachment without a scheduled offence at all. The second proviso of Section 5 (1) of PMLA states that notwithstanding the first proviso, any property of any person can be attached if the concerned officer has reason to believe (which shall be recorded in writing), on the basis of the material in his possession that if such property involved in money-laundering is not attached immediately under this chapter, the non-attachment of the property is likely to frustrate any proceeding under this Act. Therefore, for invoking the second Proviso, it is necessary for the ED to show that the property being attached is the property involved in money lau....
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.... on the aforestated pages will demonstrate how the ED does not satisfy the test of second proviso to Section 5(1) of PMLA in any manner. The learned Appellate Tribunal failed to appreciate that not only are specific reasons to believe in relation to the properties belonging to the appellant absent in the PAO, but the common 'Reasons to believe' for 100 properties belonging to 37 defendants stated in Para 9 of the PAO also does not satisfy the statutory test. The PAO states as follows:- "B. The acts of Shri Suryakant Tiwari of selling off the assets, evasive replies by Ms Ranu Sahu, Mr. Devendra Singh Yadav, Mr. Vinod Tiwari, Mr. Vaibhav Agrawal, admission by Nikhil Chandrakar, Devendra Thakur, Satyanarayan Dewangan, Divyesh Chandrakar regarding using of PoC by Suryakant Tiwari and not joining of investigation by Roshan Singh and his wife Pooja Singh clearly provides me with the reason to believe that properties mentioned in schedule of properties are proceeds of crime involved in money laundering and are likely to be transferred or dealt with any manner which may result in frustrating any proceedings relating to confiscation of such proceeds of crime, if not attached immed....
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.... AA in the instant OC do not even mention the name of the appellant, let alone recording reasons to believe that the appellant has either committed the offence of money laundering or is in possession of proceeds of crime. It is shocking that the learned AA has issued a show cause notice to the appellant without recording reasons why the same must be issued to her in the first place. For this reason alone, the show cause notice along with all consequential proceedings is liable to be set aside. Recording of 'reason to believe' by the learned AA is sine qua non for exercising jurisdiction under sub-section (1) of Section 8 of PMLA. It is settled law that the AA is not supposed to mechanically issue a show cause notice under Section 8(1) PMLA. The AA has to apply its mind and again record its reasons to believe, independent of the reasons recorded by the ED, that any person has committed an offence under Section 3 PMLA or is in possession of proceeds of crime. Unless this condition precedent is complied with, the AA would have no jurisdiction to issue notice under sub-section (1) of Section 8 upon receipt of complaint under sub-section (5) of Section The show cause notice issued to th....
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....ed are in the nature of 'value thereof. In fact, in the present case, the properties in question are wholly unrelated to the purported predicate offence as the same were purchased way before the commission of purported predicate offence, and therefore, the presumption under Section 24 cannot arise. The appellant in her statement under Section 50 of PMLA, has stated that she has been submitting her Immovable Property Return as per AIS conduct rules. In any case, there is no allegation of such properties being derived out of tainted money. The learned Appellate Tribunal failed to appreciate that the learned AA overlooked that presumption under Section 24(a) of PMLA can only arise when a person is 'charged with the offence of money laundering'. In the present case, even though a Prosecution Complaint has been filed "alleging" the commission of the offence of money laundering, the appellant herein has not been charged of the same by the learned Special Court. Therefore, the presumption under Section 24(a) of PMLA cannot be said to have arisen in the present case. 33. Placing reliance on the return filed, Dr. Saurabh Kumar Pande, learned counsel appearing for the respondent-ED would ....
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....istration. The Delivery Orders (DO) were issued only after the illegal levy was paid. This extortion syndicate was being run in a well-planned conspiracy. Mr. Suryakant Tiwari was assisted by State Govt Officials like Saumya Chaurasia Chhattisgarh Administrative Service Officer, Sameer Vishnoi IAS, and associates like Rajnikant Tiwari, Roshan Singh, Nikhil Chandrakar, Sheikh Moinudeen Qureshi, Hemant Jaiswal, Joginder Singh etc. The money so collected is being used to make bribe payments to the government servants as well as Politicians. Part of the proceeds was also being used to funding for election expenditure. Investigation done so far also reveals that the large part of such money has been channeled into layered transactions in order to project it as untainted money and brought into the main stream by investing the same to acquire the properties & Coal washeries etc. ED investigation revealed that Sameer Vishnoi, the then Director, Directorate of Mining and Geology, Chhattisgarh issued a letter dated 15.07.2020 vide which Delivery Order for coal transportation is required to be verified manually from the concerned Mining Office and under the guise of the said letter and instru....
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....yndicate run by Suryakant Tiwari in extorting the illegal levy from the coal transporters as well as from DMF Contracts and investigation has revealed that she has received an amount of Rs. 5.52 Crores (Approx.) as her share of the PoC in coal levy scam and she had laundered her share in the PoC by purchasing vast immovable properties in her name and in the names of family members and thus attempted to hide their untainted nature, Hence, Ranu Sahu has committed the offence of money laundering as defined under Section 3 of PMLA which is punishable under Section 4 of PMLA. Even if a person who is not accused in the FIR for scheduled offence can be proceeded against and can be made as an accused under PMLA, 2002 if any such person is found to have been involved in any of the activity connected with the process of laundering the proceeds of crime. In this regard, he places reliance on paragraph 65 the judgment of the Apex Court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary (supra) and paragraph 27 of the judgment in Pavana Dibbur v. The Directorate of Enforcement {Cr.A. No. 2779/2023}. 35. With regard to the contention of not even mention the name of the appellant in the reason to Believe under Secti....
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....on 384 of IPC was found to be committed in the State of Chhattisgarh for which report would be sent to Chhattisgarh police though proper channel, ACB/EOW Raipur incorporated Section 384 of IPC in the above said FIR No. 03/2024.Therefore, the claim of appellants that no scheduled offence exists in the instant case is completely false. The scope of money laundering offences has wider and far-reaching scope that predicate offences and all the persons involved in offence of money laundering need not necessarily be an accused in predicate offence. As such property of a person can be attached under PMLA even if the said person is not accused under the scheduled offence. If during investigation under PMLA, it reveals that a property has been acquired out of POC, the same can be attached under PMLA and further, such person need not necessarily be charged for offence of Money Laundering if there did not exist such evidences to prove that the person was knowingly involved in activities related to POC. Order impugned was passed by the learned AA upon affording reasonable and fair opportunity of hearing to the appellant herein and after taking all the oral and written submission of both sides ....
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....of issuance of the PAO, based on the material then available indicating likelihood of concealment, transfer or dealing with the proceeds of crime. Subsequent directions regarding possession under Section 8(4) or observations made by the Appellate Tribunal in that context do not retrospectively invalidate the formation of satisfaction or urgency recorded at the stage of provisional attachment. The statutory powers exercised under Section 5(1) and Section 8 operate in different fields, and reliance on possession-related observations cannot render the PAO illegal or arbitrary. The learned Appellate Tribunal has analysed each and every fact at greater length and consequent upon that passed its order dated 16.10.2025 in a very comprehensive manner. In the said order, learned Appellate Tribunal has discussed at length about each property in question of respective appellant and rebutted all fabricated allegation made by them. Thus, the Appellate Tribunal dismissed the appeal of the appellants citing that they do not find any substances 38. Dr. Pandey would next submit that the investigation has proven that Ranu Sahu was involved in the offence of money laundering and actively assisted ....
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....tate Police, State GST Department, Environment Department, Labour Department etc. was involved in the conspiracy of extortion and implement of the scam and instead of stopping Suryakant Tiwari's team, the machinery was assisting the team to execute the scam. The State GST Department also played an important role in implementation of the extortion plan and in acquisition of the Proceeds of Crime by way of pressuring the businessmen who did not bend to the will of cartel. Ranu Sahu was also posted as Commissioner of Chhattisgarh State GST Department during the first one year of extortion period. Hence, . Ranu Sahu IAS not only being District Collector, Korba and Raigarh has facilitated the coal cartel but also being Commissioner of Chhattisgarh State GST Department, has facilitated the cartel in implement of extortion system and in return got a part of PoC for herself. Further, analysis of the ITRs, it is established that the properties owned by family members of Ranu Sahu are disproportionate with their income mentioned in ITRs in that period. For purchase of properties, the cash was used at two levels, first the cheque payments made against purchase of the properties were arranged ....
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....le High Court of Delhi in WP(C) No. 5744/2022. State Bank of India v. Directorate of Enforcement, is wholly misconceived and misplaced as the said order was rendered in the facts and circumstances peculiar to that case and does not lay down any absolute proposition of law to the effect that all orders containing similar or identical language are illegal or void. In the present case, the impugned order has been passed after due and independent application of mind to the facts of the case, the material placed on record, and the evidence produced before the learned AA and therefore does not suffer from any legal infirmity. The learned AA has fully discharged the statutory obligation cast upon it under Section 8(2) of the PMLA by duly considering the material placed before it and by arriving at a satisfaction that the properties in question are involved in money laundering. The impugned Order clearly records the existence of proceeds of crime, their connection with the scheduled offence, how the appellants and the properties in question are linked to money-laundering activities. The appellants are seeking a re-examination of facts under the guise of alleging procedural defects, which i....
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....y perusal of Suryakant's statement is enough to show that he was giving fictitious answers about the diary entries as when he was cross questioned about his submission that how he could identify real entries from fake entries, Suryakant had no answer. Further, ED understands that mere diary entries have no meaning till they are independently corroborated. Therefore, ED is conscious of the legal position that diary entries by themselves have no evidentiary value unless independently corroborated. Accordingly, the ED verified the diary entries by examining seized WhatsApp chats, statements recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA, 2002, sale deed documents, and bank transactions. Only upon such independent corroboration did the ED arrive at the conclusion that the diary entries are genuine and correctly reflect the illegal extortion proceeds and their utilization. Thus, the investigation conducted to authenticate the diary entries as described in the concerned Original Complaint, involved recording statements recorded under Section 50 of PMLA, 2002 and analysis of the relevant bank account statements, analysis of the land deals, etc and it is established that the entries in the diary ar....
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....ate of Enforcement, {W.P. (C) No. 14999 of 2021}. Furthermore, the Appellate Tribunal in Kishore Kumar v. The Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Bengaluru, clarified that properties acquired prior to the enforcement of the PMLA are not immune from attachment if they are equivalent in value to the proceeds of crime. The Tribunal noted that the expression "proceeds of crime" includes both tainted and untainted property, provided the latter is of equivalent value to the former. Further, the Appellate Tribunal in Ayush Kejriwal v. Enforcement Directorate (Case No. FPA-PMLA-4358/KOL/2021, order dated 01.05.2024) ruled that when assets acquired from criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence i.e. misappropriated bank funds are untraceable, then any property of the accused, equivalent to the value of the misappropriated funds, can be attached. This attachment applies regardless of whether the property was acquired using misappropriated funds or was purchased with legally obtained funds even before the registration of the FIR. This judgment underscores that even assets legally acquired before the commission of scheduled offence or FIR registration can be seized if the proc....
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.... terms held that even single member Benches of the Adjudicating Authority would adjudicating disputes under PMLA. Dr. Pandey would submit that investigation has established the generation of PoC from commission of scheduled offence by the coal cartel and acquisition of PoC worth Rs. 5.52 crores by the appellant from the coal cartel and conversion of the same into immovable properties in the name of her family members with the help of entry providers who provided entry in the bank accounts of family members against the cash of appellant. Appellants are the actual owner of those immovable properties as they were paid for using PoC acquired by the appellants. Thus, there is clear cut case where the appellants had obtained several properties which were purchased by PoC generated by scheduled offence. Therefore, all the fundamental facts as enunciated by the Hon'ble Apex court in the case of Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary (supra) are properly fulfilled in the case of appellant. The appellant-Ranu Sahu is a high-ranking officer and well aware of the Government rules and regulations and therefore, she deliberately did not acquire any property in her name during crime period to avoid any action ....
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.... of other Districts have been made accused. Even the ED has not been able to establish the money trail. Even some of the properties of the appellants have been confiscated. Specific reference is made to Annexure A/14 of the appeal {MA No. 26/2026} which is a property chart which shows the properties before 15.07.2020 belonging to the appellant-Ranu Sahu and other members of the family and the properties acquired after 15.07.2020. 43. Before proceeding with the matter, it would be apposite to state that similar appeals were filed by other co-accused persons namely Sourabh Modi, Shanti Devi Chaurasiya, Anurag Chaurasia, M/s. Indermani Mneral India Pvt. Ltd., M/s. KJSL Coal & Power Ltd., Divya Tiwari, Kailash Tiwari, Rajnikant Tiwari, Suryakant Tiwari, and Sameer Vishnoi being MA No. 34/2025 and other connected matters, all of which stood dismissed vide judgment dated 23.07.2025, by this Court wherein also, the order passed by the learned Appellate Tribunal, affirming the order of attachment passed by the learned AA was under challenge. They are also the co-accused of the same offence as involved herein. 44. It would be beneficial to quote some of the relevant provisions of the ....
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....ection 5 under Chapter III of the PMLA which reads as under: "5. Attachment of property involved in money-laundering.-(1)Where the Director or any other officer not below the rank of Deputy Director authorised by the Director for the purposes of this section, has reason to believe (the reason for such belief to be recorded in writing), on the basis of material in his possession, that- (a) any person is in possession of any proceeds of crime; and (b) such proceeds of crime are likely to be concealed, transferred or dealt with in any manner which may result in frustrating any proceedings relating to confiscation of such proceeds of crime under this Chapter, he may, by order in writing, provisionally attach such property for a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days from the date of the order, in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided that no such order of attachment shall be made unless, in relation to the scheduled offence, a report has been forwarded to a Magistrate under section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), or a complaint has been filed by a person authorised to investigate the offence mentioned ....
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....ment before the Adjudicating Authority." 46. The AA, under Section 5(1) read with Section 8(1) of the PMLA is only required to form a reason to believe, based on the material in possession, that the property is involved in money laundering. Such belief need not be based on direct evidence but can be drawn from circumstantial indicators. The OC filed by the ED is quite exhaustive and contains relevant materials which appear to be sufficient to form a reason to believe. 47. In Vijay Madanlal Choudhary (supra), the Apex Court observed as under: "60. As a matter of fact, prior to amendment of 2015, the first proviso acted as an impediment for taking such urgent measure even by the authorised officer, who is no less than the rank of Deputy Director. We must hasten to add that the nuanced distinction must be kept in mind that to initiate "prosecution" for offence under Section 3 of the Act registration of scheduled offence is a prerequisite, but for initiating action of "provisional attachment" under Section 5 there need not be a pre-registered criminal case in connection with scheduled offence. This is because the machinery provisions cannot be construed in a manner which....
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....ng to a scheduled offence. It would apply to any person (not necessarily being accused in the scheduled offence), if he is involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime. Such a person besides facing the consequence of provisional attachment order, may end up in being named as accused in the complaint to be filed by the authorised officer concerning offence under Section 3 of the 2002 Act." 48. In Pavana Dibbur (supra), the Apex Court observed as under: "27. While we reject the first and second submissions canvassed by the learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant, the third submission must be upheld. Our conclusions are: a) It is not necessary that a person against whom the offence under Section 3 of the PMLA is alleged, must have been shown as the accused in the scheduled offences; ...." 49. Section 22 of the PMLA is in respect of presumption as to records or property in certain case. It reads as under: "22. Presumption as to records or property in certain cases.-(1) Where any records or property are or is found in the possession or control of any person in the course of a survey or a search for where an....
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....tates that in any proceeding related to proceeds of crime under this Act, (a) in the case of a person charged with the offence of money laundering under Section 3, the Authority or Court shall, unless the contrary is proved, presume that such proceeds of crime are involved in money laundering; and (b) in the case of any other person the Authority or Court, may presume that such proceeds of crime are involved in money-laundering. Once the property is identified as involved in money laundering, the burden shifts on the accused to prove that the property is not proceeds of crime. In the present case, the appellants have not discharged this burden satisfactorily. 53. There is no dispute with regard to the fact that search and seizure was conducted at the premises of appellant-Suryakant Tiwari and associates in which various evidences were gathered in the form of handwritten diaries, loose papers and also digital evidences of cash transactions related to a syndicate being operated and coordinated by Surayakant Tiwari and his associates. The allegations levelled against the appellant-Ranu Sahu are very serious in nature and the entire offence is an example of organiz....
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.... involves complex layers of financial transactions to obscure the origin of the money. The purpose is to make the money trail hard to trace, such as transferring funds between multiple accounts (often across borders), using shell companies and offshore accounts, purchasing and selling financial instruments. The third stage is the integration and in this final stage, the laundered money is reintroduced into the legitimate economy, appearing as clean, legitimate income which includes investing in legal businesses, buying high-value goods or property and creating fake invoices and business transactions. These stages are often interlinked and may overlap depending on the complexity of the laundering scheme. 56. With regard to the issue of coram of learned AA, the said issue is no longer res integra. The Madras High Court in G. Gopalakrishnan (supra) has in unequivocal terms held that even a single member Bench of the Adjudicating Authority could adjudicate the disputes under PMLA. In fact, in the decision of the Delhi High Court in "J. Sekar (supra) it was held that less than three Member Adjudicating Authority is permissible under PMLA. The Hon'ble Madras High Court has also clearl....
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....f the learned counsel for the appellants is that the entire case of the ED is based on uncorroborated diary entries which have no sanctity in law. This Court basically has to see whether the provisions of the PMLA has been complied with or not before passing the PAO. From perusal of the materials available on record, we are fully satisfied that the learned AA as well as the learned Appellate Tribunal was justified in passing the Confirmation Order as well as the impugned order. This Court cannot do the arithmetic with respect to each single penny received and invested by the appellants but has to see whether the appellants could give any plausible explanation with regard to the transactions and how the finance was made available for the said transactions. 61. The nexus between the appellant(s) and the alleged PoC is also well established. It is the say of the appellants that they had duly informed the source for acquisition of the property in question and as such, the orders passed by the AA as well as the Appellate Tribunal is erroneous. In the case in hand, the FIR was lodged after prima facie disclosure of commission of offence, but the offence was committed much earlier to r....
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....property of equivalent value can be attached when the proceeds directly or indirectly obtained out of the crime has been vanished or siphoned off. Here, the significance would be to the property acquired even prior to commission of crime. It is for the reason that any property acquired subsequent to the commission of crime would be directly or indirectly proceeds of crime and then, it would fall in the first limb of the definition of proceeds of crime. In the second limb, which refers to "the value of any such property" would indicate any other property which was acquired prior to the commission of crime and it would be attached only when the proceeds directly or indirectly obtained or derived out of the criminal activity is not available. It may be on account of siphoning off or vanished by the accused. In those circumstances the property of equivalent value can be attached. The word "the value of any such property" signifies without any embargo that it should be the property purchased after the commission of crime or prior to it rather it would apply in both the eventuality in the given circumstance. Thus, we are not in agreement with the counsel for the appellant who has questio....
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.... not possess sufficient agricultural land during the relevant period to generate the income disclosed. In several instances, the agricultural land was acquired during or immediately prior to the period in question, making it implausible that such land could have produced income in earlier years sufficient to fund the acquisition of the properties. Accordingly, the Appellate Tribunal concluded that the explanation regarding the source of funds was unsubstantiated and unreliable. 63. For ready reference, the properties belonging to the appellant-Ranu Sahu and her family members, before 15.07.2020 and after 15.07.2020, are quoted as under: Properties before 15.07.2020, belonging to Ranu Sahu S.No. PARTICULARS BUYER DATE OF ACQUISITION ALLEGED NATURE OF PROPERTY 1. Kh no. 481 (0.09 Hect) Vill Aasara, Tehsil Chhura, Distt. Gariyaband RANU SAHU 05.10.2017 Value thereof 2. Kh no. 498/3 (0.21 Hect) Vill Aasara, Tehsil Chhura, Distt. Gariyaband RANU SAHU 05.10.2017 Value thereof 3. Kh no. 276, (1.86 Hect), Kh no. 282, (0.35 Hect) Vill Vodarabanda, RNM, & Tehsil Chhura Distt Gariyaband RANU SAHU 30.03.2018 Value thereof 4. ....
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....04.2018 Value thereof Properties after 15.07.2020 1. Kh no. 271/10, (0.0140 Hect) Gram, Tikrapara, Raipur Ward NO. 50, Sahid Pankaj Vikram ward ARUN KUMAR SAHU 16.07.2020 Direct PoC (Serial No. 9 on page 93 of IO) 2. Kh no. 394, (0.08) Hect, Vill. Kutena, RNM & Tehsil, Chhura, Distt. Gariyaband ARUN KUMAR SAHU 23.03.2021 Direct PoC (Serial No. 10 on page 93 of IO) 3. Kh No.407/1, 407/2, 407/3, Hect Village, Tulsi, PH No. 41, RNM, Raipur 1, Tehsil & Distt Raipur ARUN KUMAR SAHU LAXMI SAHU 27.03.2021 Direct PoC (Serial No.8 on page 92 of IO) 4. Part of Kh no. 1149/1 Total Area 0.86 Hect. Vil Pateva RNM & Tehsil, Nawapara, Distt Raipur ARUN KUMAR SAHU 13.05.2021 Direct PoC (Serial No. 11 of 3rd PC) 5. Part of Kh no. 1149/1 Total Area 0.86 Hect. Vil Pateva RNM & Tehsil, Nawapara, Distt Raipur PANKAJ KUMAR SAHU 13.05.2021 Direct PoC (Serial No. 12 on page 93 of IO) 6. Kh no 108/1,108/2,155, Total 1.630 Hect Gram Kalmidadar RNM. Bagbahara, Mahasamund SHALINI SAHU 26.05.2021 Direct PoC (Serial No.6 on page 92 of IO) 7. Kh. No. 69/2, 71/1, 72/2,73,105, 106, 107, 109, 117, 119, 15....
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....be equivalent in value of the proceeds of crime only if the proceeds of crime are situated outside India. This argument, in our opinion, is tenuous. For, the definition of "proceeds of crime" is wide enough to not only refer to the property derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence, but also of the value of any such property. If the property is taken or held outside the country, even in such a case, the property equivalent in value held within the country or abroad can be proceeded with. The definition of "property" as in Section 2(1) (v) is equally wide enough to encompass the value of the property of proceeds of crime. Such interpretation would further the legislative intent in recovery of the proceeds of crime and vesting it in the Central Government for effective prevention of money-laundering. 69. We find force in the stand taken by the Union of India that the objectives of enacting the 2002 Act was the attachment and confiscation of proceeds of crime which is the quintessence so as to combat the evil of money-laundering. .... 187. In light of the above analysis, we now proceed to summarise our conclusion on....
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....of bail application filed by one of the co-accused Saumya Chaurasiya, vide judgment dated 14.12.2023 observed as under: "26. The Court also does not find any substance in the submission of the learned Senior Counsel Mr. Siddharth Aggarwal for the Appellant that the scheduled offences i.e. Section 384 and 120 B having been dropped from the chargesheet submitted against the accused Suryakant Tiwari in connection with the FIR No. 129 of 2022 registered at Kadugodi Police Station Bengaluru, and the ACJM Bengaluru vide the order dated 16.06.2023 having taken cognizance for the offence punishable under Section 204 and 353 IPC only, which are not the scheduled offences under the PMLA Act, no scheduled offence survived at the time of passing of the impugned order and that the proceedings were/are without jurisdiction. 27. Apart from the fact that neither the Chargesheet dated 08.06.2023 nor the cognizance order 16.06.2023 were placed on record during the course of arguments before the High Court as they never existed at that time, the I.O. in the Chargesheet filed in connection with the said FIR no. 129 of 2022 against Suryakant Tiwari has categorically mentioned that "as....
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....ction 45 of the PMLA are binding on the High Court while considering the application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. There is no doubt that PMLA deals with the offence of money laundering and the Parliament has enacted this law as per commitment of the country to the United Nations General Assembly. PMLA is a special statute enacted by the Parliament for dealing with money laundering. Section 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 clearly lays down that the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure will not affect any special statute or any local law. In other words, the provisions of any special statute will prevail over the general provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure in case of any conflict. 29. Section 45 of the PMLA starts with a non obstante clause which indicates that the provisions laid down in Section 45 of the PMLA will have overriding effect on the general provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure in case of conflict between them. Section 45 of the PMLA imposes following two conditions for grant of bail to any person accused of an offence punishable for a term of imprisonment of more than three years under Part A of....
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.... PMLA, even when the application for bail is considered under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure." The decisions of this Court in the case of Subrata Chattoraj v. Union of India {(2014) 8 SCC 768}, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v. CBI {(2013) 7 SCC 439}, and Union of India v. Hassan Ali Khan {(2011) 10 SCC 235} have been noticed in the aforesaid decision. 21. The consistent view taken by this Court is that economic offences having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country. Further, when attempt is made to project the proceeds of crime as untainted money and also that the allegations may not ultimately be established, but having been made, the burden of proof that the monies were not the proceeds of crime and were not, therefore, tainted shifts on the accused persons under Section 24 of the Act of 2002." 71. Even if certain properties were acquired prior to the posting of the appellant, Ranu Sahu, as Collector, Korba, it cannot be conclusively held that suc....