IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Offence of money laundering – Knowledge of accused that he was dealing with proceeds of crime, would not be a condition precedent or sine qua non required to be shown by prosecution for lodging complaint under PML Act.
(2) Special Leave Petition – Non-production of relevant documents especially documents in respect of which relief is sought, along with SLPs could be sole ground for rejection of SLPs at the outset.

JUDGMENT :

BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.

1. The petitioners by way of these petitions have challenged the common judgment and order dated 21.02.2019 passed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, Bench at Jaipur, in S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 704 of 2018 and S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 757 of 2018, whereby the High Court has dismissed both the petitions imposing cost of Rs. 50,000/-.

2. The S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 704 of 2018 was filed by the petitioner – Anoop Bartaria, Director of World Trade Park Ltd. seeking a prayer to quash ECIR No.JPZO/01/2016 registered by the Jaipur Zonal Office of Enforcement Directorate, with further prayer against the respondents not to file any criminal complaint against the petitioner and not to take any coercive steps against the petitioner in respect of the said ECIR. The S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 757 of 2018 was filed by the petitioner – Anoop Bartaria, the Director, World Trade Park Ltd., and by M/s World Trade Park Ltd, a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956, seeking a prayer to quash and set aside the prosecution complaint in ECIR No.JPZO/01/2016.

3. As per the case of the petitioners, the petitioner- Anoop Bartaria is a leading and an awarded engineer/architect having an expertise in providing structural, architectural and design consultancy services and is also the Chairman and Managing Director of the World Trade Park Ltd., (Erstwhile M/s R.F. Properties & Trading Ltd.) a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The World Trade Park is one of the most sought-after real estate commercial properties situated at JLN Marg, Jaipur. The World Trade Park Company is engaged in the business of selling and leasing commercial spaces to various interested buyers/purchasers.

4. One Mr. Bharat Bomb and his associates approached the petitioners for the purchase of commercial units in the said World Trade Park and booked certain units. Initially the commercial units were booked in the name of Raj Darbar Material Trading Pvt. Ltd. by the said Bharat Bomb, and the amounts thereof in aggregate Rs. 74.02 crores were paid to the petitioners through demand draft and/or RTGS. Further certain amounts totaling Rs. 1.4 crores were received by the petitioner- Anoop Bartaria from Bharat Bomb towards architectural designing and consultancy services towards a real estate project being brought about by Mr. Bomb in Udaipur. However, subsequently Mr. Bomb and his associates, asked the petitioners to register the units in the name of new entities, and therefore the petitioners returned the amount back deposited by M/s. Raj Darbar Material Trading Pvt. Ltd. Thereafter in the year 2015, 34 commercial spaces were sold by the petitioners in favour of Mr. Bharat and his associates by executing 34 registered sale deeds. According to the petitioners, the amounts were received through demand drafts and/or RTGS, and all legal formalities required for registration were also followed in due course. The possession of the said units was also handed over to the respective entities/persons as instructed by Mr. Bomb.

5. The petitioners had taken loan/financial assistance from IDBI Bank and DHFL, as also from UCO Bank, mortgaging the units/spaces of World Trade Park with the said banks. On 04.10.2014, the petitioners had obtained NOC from UCO Bank for the release of a particular immovable property admeasuring 23837 sq.ft. and on 23.12.2014 had obtained NOC from IDBI Bank, Jaipur for transfer of a particular units subject to the compliance of the conditions mentioned therein. Similar, NOC for the sale of area was also issued by DHFL, Mumbai on 24.03.2015 for transfer of units admeasuring 11538 sq.ft.

6. As per the further case of the petitioners, the petitioner- Anoop Bartaria had purchased three offices namely office nos. 407, 408 and 409 in the World Trade Park in his personal capacity and had paid the amount through his current account which had no connection with Mr. Bharat Bomb or his associates.

7. A