Cognizance, Custody and Complaints under PMLA: The Supreme Court's Integration of BNSS and CrPC Norms

PMLA complaints: BNSS imposes mandatory pre-cognizance hearing, affecting cognizance and arrest powers in money laundering cases.

PMLA complaints are now governed by the general complaint-cognizance framework and, for complaints filed after BNSS commencement, by the corresponding BNSS provisions; the BNSS proviso requiring that the accused be given an opportunity to be heard before cognizance is mandatory, and failure to provide that opportunity invalidates the cognizance order. A scheduled predicate offence is a condition precedent to the existence of proceeds of crime and hence to PMLA liability, and once cognizance is taken, enforcement agencies' unilateral arrest powers against named accused are curtailed pending court-authorised custody.