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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
SUJIT NARAYAN PRASAD
Tapas Ghosh S/o Ajit Ghosh – Appellant
Versus
Directorate of Enforcement represented through its Assistant Director – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
SUJIT NARAYAN PRASAD, J.
Prayer:
1. The instant application has been filed under Section 45 of PMLA, 2002 read with Sections 483 and 484 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 praying for grant of regular bail in connection with ECIR Case No.06 of 2023, arising out of ECIR/RNZO/25/2023 registered under Section 3 punishable under Section 4 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Factual Matrix of the Case:
2. The prosecution story in brief as per the allegation made in the instant ECIR/complaint reads as under:
3. The petitioner has been arrayed as an accused in the suppl. Prosecution complaint in the aforesaid ECIR case alleging therein that Petitioner worked as a deed searcher at the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata and co-accused Sanjeet Kumar worked as a sweeper/watchman at Registrar of Assurance on Contractual basis and both had access to the original records and were involved in supplying blank pages and original volumes from the registrar of assurance Kolkata. Both co-accused were in direct contact with co- accused Irshad Akhtar and provided original registers/blank pages of original volumes for making fake deed. an amount of Rs. 21,43,000/- has been identif
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 emphasized that in money laundering cases, the burden is on the accused to prove absence of mens rea, and economic crimes warrant stricter scrutiny in bail considerations.
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....
(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 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.
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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