JUDGMENT :

M.S. RAMESH, J.

Prayer: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. to call for the records relating to the impugned Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) No. CEZO-I/35/2020 dated 22.06.2020 pending on the file of the respondent and quash the same.

1. The petitioner seeks for quashing of the ECIR proceedings against him, which is recorded in ECIR No. CEZO-I/35/2020 dated 22.06.2020.

2. The main ground raised by the petitioner is that the ECIR proceedings stems out of an FIR, which was registered in Crime No. 7 of 2011, which culminated into a final report in C.C. No. 14 of 2019 and the same was quashed against the petitioner, by the order of this Court dated 29.08.2023 made in Crl. O.P. No. 7273 of 2023.

3. The respondent had filed a detailed counter opposing the prayer sought for by the petitioner and submitted that the offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 [hereinafter referred to as 'PMLA, 2002'] is a stand alone offence and even if a person is not an accused in the predicate offence, he could still be prosecuted for an offence under the PMLA, 2002.

4. We have considered the rival submissions and perused all the materials availabl