TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (6) TMI 1500
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....he M/s Jayshri Gayatri Food Products Pvt. Ltd. He was arrested by the respondent Assistant Director Directorate of Enforcement on 13.03.2026 and is in custody since then. 3. The genesis of the investigation under the PMLA is rooted in FIR No.27/2024 registered by Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhopal on 22.07.2024 under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC. The FIR was lodged against the Directors of M/s Jayshri Gayatri Food Products Pvt. Ltd., in which, the applicant and another employee of the company, hold the directorial position. The respondent subsequently registered ECIR treating the said EOW as scheduled offence (predicate offence). Copy of FIR No.27/2024 is annexed with the bail application as Annexure-A/2. 4. Before registration of FIR No.27/2024, the applicant already lodged an FIR through Finance Officer namely Pradeep Rathore against the employees, CEO Sunil Tripathi and others for defrauding the company with multiple crores and the FIR was registered as Crime No.492/2023 under Sections 420, 406, 120-B, 409, 467, 468, 471 of the IPC and Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act at Police Station Habibganj, District Bhopal. The High Court of Madhya....
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....and any contravention thereof is a punishable offence under Section 11 of the said Act and that offence is not included in the Schedule of the PMLA. The alleged activity will not constitute a scheduled offence and no proceed of crime can be said to have been generated therefrom. In this case, the sole allegation of the respondent pertains to the laboratory testing and certification and, therefore, squarely falls within the domain of the said enactment and outside the purview of the PMLA. The milk products exported by the company were not found adulterated, therefore, the consideration received from the sale of such products is not the tainted money. Hence, no case of money laundering is made out against the applicant. It is argued that when the basic offence registered by the EOW has been quashed by the Court, then no scheduled offence is pending against the applicant and in these circumstances, the landmark judgment of Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary and other Vs. Union of India reported in (2023) 12 SCC 1 in paragraph-382.8 clearly directs as under:- '382.8. The offence under Section 3 of the 2002 Act is dependent on illegal gain of property as a result of criminal activity rel....
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....al Chaudhary (supra), submitted that if a person is discharged or acquitted of the scheduled offence, or if the criminal case against him is quashed by a court of competent jurisdiction, no offence of money laundering can be made against such person or against anyone claiming rights in the property alleged to be linked to the scheduled offence. In support of this contention, reliance was also placed on the judgment in Dhanlaxmi Chemical Industries v. Union of India reported in 2024 SCC OnLine MP 1608. 9. Learned Senior Advocate for the applicant has further relied on the judgment passed in the case of Manish Sisodia Vs. Enforcement Directorate, (2024) 12 SCC 660 and in Paragraph Nos. 52 and 53, Hon'ble the Apex Court has held as under: "52. The Court in Javed Gulam Nabi Shaikh case [Javed Gulam Nabi Shaikh v. State of Maharashtra, (2024) 9 SCC 813 : (2025) 1 SCC (Cri) 222] further observed that, over a period of time, the trial courts and the High Courts have forgotten a very well-settled principle of law that bail is not to be withheld as a punishment. From our experience, we can say that it appears that the trial courts and the High Courts attempt to play safe in matt....
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....ess of the Court. 12. Learned Senior Advocate for the applicant has further relied on the judgment of Saumya Chaurasiya versus Directorate of Enforcement reported in (2024) 6 SCC 401 in which it is held that though the finding recorded by the trial Court while granting or refusing to grant bail could be tentative in nature nonetheless the Court is expected to express prima facie opinion while granting or refusing to grant the bail, which could demonstrate application of mind particularly dealing with serious economic offences. 13. Learned Senior Advocate has also relied upon the judgment of Ranjitsingh Brahmajeetsingh Sharma versus State of Maharashtra and another reported in (2005) 5 SCC 294 and submitted that provisions of MACOCA and in PMLA cases regarding the bail, the conditions of bail are same and the Apex Court has held that the Court has tentatively record the finding based on the broad probabilities whether the case is based on circumstantial evidence that all links in the chain of circumstances are complete while considering the bail and particularly relied on the Paragraph Nos. 44 and 46 of the judgment. 14. Learned Senior Advocate for the applicant has further....
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....h export quality standards and obtained export clearance, and received foreign remittances. 17. Further submitted that the proceeds were generated through criminal activities relating to the forgery, use of forged documents and falsification of export records which are scheduled offences under the PMLA. During the investigation, the bank accounts were also searched. Kishan Modi is the promoter and principal person of the Company. The provisional attachment order has been passed. Sunil Tripathi and other employees have clearly stated that the reports were forged in the direction and knowledge of the applicant. After the enquiry, the charge sheet has been submitted before the Special Court constituted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Bhopal. They have challenged the order of this Court passed in W.P. No.22979/2024, by which the FIR of EOW has been quashed. 18. During investigation, statement of Sunil Tripathi was recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA, who has clearly stated that all the activities were done with the connivance and the knowledge of the applicant and Jitendra Rathore prepared the forged reports. After Jitendra Rathore, Prakhar Shrivastava created the....
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....ion Habibganj as Crime No.492/2023. 24. Though, learned senior counsel for the applicant has submitted that they have challenged the order passed by the Coordinate Bench of this Court dismissing the petition for quashing the ECIR No.13/2024, but no order of Apex Court has been submitted showing that the said order of this Court has been quashed. 25. From the above discussion, at this stage, while deciding bail application, this Court cannot express any opinion against the order of the Coordinate Bench of this Court, which held that FIR No.492/2023 shall be treated as a scheduled offence and in these circumstances, it cannot be said that no scheduled offence is pending against the applicant. 26. Hon'ble the Apex Court in the case of Kanhaiya Prasad (supra), in paragraph No.19 has held as under: '19. We also do not find any substance in the submission made by learned Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar for the respondent that the respondent has not been shown as an accused in the predicate offence. It is no more res integra that the offence of money laundering is an independent offence regarding the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime, which had been d....
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.... in a given case may be a non-cognizable offence and yet rigours of Section 45 of the 2002 Act would result in denial of bail even to such accused. This argument is founded on clear misunderstanding of the scheme of the 2002 Act. As we have repeatedly mentioned in the earlier part of this judgment that the offence of money laundering is one wherein a person, 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. The fact that the proceeds of crime have been generated as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence, which incidentally happens to be a non-cognizable offence, would make no difference. The person is not prosecuted for the scheduled offence by invoking provisions of the 2002 Act, but only when he has derived or obtained property as a result of criminal activity relating to or in relation to a scheduled offence and then indulges in process or activity connected with such proceeds of crime. Suffice it to observe that the argument under consideration is completely misplaced and needs to be rejected." 27. Thus, the argument of the se....
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....act was in the knowledge of the applicant. One fact is also disclosed by the applicant before the enforcement officials that three reports of 22.02.2024 (two reports) and 16.01.2024, issued by the Fare Labs were also forged and by that dairy products of the amount of Rs. 89,71,409/- were exported to different countries. This applicant in his statement before the respondent agency has also disclosed the fact regarding the Fare Labs that by the other officials appointed after removal of Sunil Tripathi. It was also disclosed that some complaints were made regarding quality of products. 31. Thus, in the statement of the applicant, this fact has also been disclosed that the company was involved in adulteration of dairy products and fraudulent export practices. The company used large quantity of palm oil in production of dairy products such as butter, cheese, milk cream to gain unlawful profits. Palm oil was purchased and after processing, it was adulterated with dairy products. It was found that some of the bills and invoice were also forged and this fact is further supported by the statement of Akhilesh Rathore, the accountant of the company that 5-6 Lakh Kilorgrams of palm oil was ....