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VIKAS BAHL
Dharam Singh – Appellant
Versus
Directorate of Enforcement – Respondent
JUDGMENT
Vikas Bahl, J.
This is the first petition under Section 438 read with Section 482 Cr.P.C. read with Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2022 (hereinafter referred to as "PMLA") and all other enabling provisions in this regard, for grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioner in ECIR/GNZO/20/2021 (hereinafter to be referred as "ECIR") dated 16.11.2021.
2. Table of contents:-
| Title | Paras | Pages |
| Brief facts of the case | 3-5 | 2-7 |
| Arguments on behalf of the petitioner | 6-10 | 7-12 |
| Arguments on behalf of the respondent | 11-19 | 12-25 |
| Rebuttal arguments on behalf of the petitioner | 20-21 | 25-26 |
| Analysis and Findings (i) Details of four subsequent FIRs (ii) Chart showing the details of the petitioner being Director of various companies of Mahira Group | 22-50, 25, 29-32, 26 | 26-66 27, 30-34, 28 |
Brief Facts Of The Case:-
3. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution is that M/s Sai Aaina Farms Pvt. Ltd. (presently known as M/s Mahira Infratech Pvt. Ltd and hereinafter referred to as "SAFPL") was controlled by Chhoker Family i.e. by the present petitioner and his sons Sikander Singh and Vikas Chhoker and the companies of the Ch
Anticipatory bail under the PMLA requires clear evidence that the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commit further offences, which was not demonstrated in this case.
The presence of a scheduled offence legitimizes the existence of an ECIR and allows the department to continue the investigation. However, the settlement or quashing of scheduled offences in FIRs pro....
The court upheld the validity of the ECIR independent of the FIRs, affirming that non-bailable warrants were justified due to the petitioners' non-cooperation in the investigation.
The court established that the offense of money laundering under PMLA cannot exist independently of a scheduled offense.
A quashed FIR does not automatically invalidate an ECIR; the ECIR is independent and requires substantive grounds for quashing based on the merits of the predicate offence under PMLA.
FIR and ECIR become two different documents and both tend to take shape on its own, independent of each other.
Prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 is not sustainable without a registered scheduled offence, as established by the Supreme Court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary.
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 Prevention of Money Laundering Act proceedings cannot survive if the predicate offences linked to them are closed by the court, indicating the non-existence of 'proceeds of crime'.
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