In economic offences, bail is not a right; the burden rests on the applicant to show no risk of interference with justice or likelihood of guilt, reinforced by the position of the accused.

Order :

Arvind Kumar Verma, J.

1.The applicant has preferred the instant bail application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 ('BNSS' for short) seeking grant of bail in connection with ECIR RPZO/04/2024 dated 11.04.2024 registered by the Directorate of Enforcement, Raipur, Zonal Office (ED), for the offences under Sections 03 and 04 of the PMLA, 2002.

FACTUAL ASPECTS :

2. The present bail applicant is the first application being preferred by the applicant seeking his release on bail and no other application of similar nature is either pending adjudication before this Court or any subordinate court. Previous, the applicant had invoked the jurisdiction of the Special Court (PMLA) Raipur by filing application under Section 483 of the BNSS, 2023 and Sections 45 and 65 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The said application came to be dismissed by order dated 20.06.2025.

3. The applicant was apprehended on 15.01.2025 by the Directorate of Enforcement, Raipur Zonal Office in connection with the ECIR No. RPZO/04/2024 dated 11.04.2024 registered for the alleged contraventions under Section 3 punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA. The applicant is a person of clean antecedents and has never been convicted of any offence prior to the instant case. However, he has been implicated in FIR No. 04/2024 dated 17.01.2024, which is already under investigation.

4. As per the case of the prosecution,

a) it is alleged that during the period from 2019 to 2002, a large scale syndicate was operating in the State of Chhattisgarh systematically involved in the manufacture and sale of illegal liquor through licensed government shops, thereby generating unlawful commissions from the distillers.

b) It is further alleged that the operations of the said syndicate resulted in the generation of huge amounts of illicit funds, which were distributed amongst its members and also utilized to bribe high ranking political and administrative functionaries.

c) The specific role attributed to the applicant is that during the yer 2019 to 2023 while serving as the Excise Minister of Chhattisgarh, he allegedly exercised complete control over the functioning of the Excise Department and played a vital role in the introduction of FL-10A licensing policy.

d) It is further alleged that despite being fully aware of the irregularities and illegalities n the Department, the applicant attempted to shift the entire blame upon officers, namely Arunpati Tripathi (then Managing Director, CSMCL) and Mr. Niranjan Das (then Excise Commissioner, Chhattisgarh).

e) It is further alleged that the applicant received an amount of Rs. 2 crores per month from the illegal earning of the alleged liquor syndicate and is in possession of the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs. 72 crores.

Hence the present bail application is being filed on the following amongst, other grounds.

GROUNDS URGED BY THE COUNSEL FOR THE APPLICANT

5. Counsel for the applicant has urged the following grounds:

1. False implication and Political Vendetta: It is contended that the applicant has been falsely implicated in the present case due to extraneous political considerations. The allegations levelled against him are vague, indiscriminate and based solely on statements of co-accused and prosecution witnesses, without any independent, cogent or credible evidence directly linking the applicant with the alleged offence.

2. Registration of the present ECIR is an abused of process of law: Firstly, the present ECIR has been registered on the basis of Predict FIR No. 04.2024 dated 17.01.2024 registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW)/Anti-Corruption Bureau (AB)