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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
SUJIT NARAYAN PRASAD
Sunita Devi @ Sunita Kumari, W/o Panna Lal Mahto – Appellant
Versus
Union of India – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
SUJIT NARAYAN PRASAD, J.
1. The instant application has been filed for grant of regular bail to the petitioner, in connection with ECIR Case No.04 of 2021 (CNR No. JHRN01009069-2021), registered for alleged offence under Section 3 read with Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, (herein referred as Act,2002) pending in the Court of learned AJC-XVIII-cum-Special Judge, P.M.L. Act, Ranchi.
Factual Matrix
2. The facts leading to filing of the present case reads as under:
3. The prosecution case in brief is that the complaint case registered by Assistant Director (PMLA), Enforcement Directorate, Government of India, Zonal Office, Ranchi, has been filed with relevant documents under Section 45 r/w Section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, for commission of offence under Section 3 of PMLA, 2002 and punishable under Section 4 of PMLA, against accused persons, namely, (i) Panna Lal Mahto @ Ganjhu, (ii) Sunita Kumari @ Sunita (petitioner no.1 herein), (iii) Gopal Oraon, (iv) Shiv Shankar Mahto @ Ganjhu (petitioner no.2 herein) (v) Birsa Bhagwan Placement Bureau (Registration No. 2011024073 Dated 13.07.2011 registered with the Labour Department at
The court emphasized that under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, bail can only be granted if there are reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty, which was not established in thi....
The offence of money laundering under the PMLA is independent, and involvement in proceeds of crime suffices for liability; stringent conditions for bail must be met.
The court established that under the PMLA, an accused can be convicted for money laundering even if not formally accused in the predicate offense, emphasizing the independent and serious nature of ec....
The offence of money laundering under PMLA is independent of underlying scheduled offences; involvement in any process related to proceeds of crime suffices for liability under Section 3.
The court ruled that in economic offenses, particularly money laundering, anticipatory bail is rarely granted due to the grave nature of allegations and potential interference with investigations.
(1) Economic offences having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting economy of country as a whole and ....
The court emphasized that bail under the PMLA requires satisfaction of twin conditions regarding the accused's guilt and likelihood of committing further offences, which were not met in this case.
Bail is to be denied in economic offenses when serious, substantiated evidence of money laundering exists, per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
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