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.

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:-

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 Chhoker family are known by the name "Mahira Group" and the said Mahira Group deals majorly in real estate / construction projects and that SAFPL is also one of the several companies under the Mahira group and the said company undertook the project of building flats at Sector 68, Gurugram, under the affordable group housing project and SAFPL applied for licences / permissions to the Department of Town and Country Planning, Haryana and were granted licence no.106/2017 to build around 1500 flats in an area of about 10 acres and the project was required to be completed by 2021-22 and the said licence was granted on the basis of documents / bank guarantees provided to the department. It is further the case of the prosecution that on the basis of the licence/ permission granted, SAFPL started bookings for the flats and collected around Rs. 360 crores from 1500 home buyers, although the construction work was slow paced and promised deadlines had been missed. Initially an FIR no.11 was registered by Sushant Lok Police Station, Gurugram, Haryana on 14.01.2021 under Sections 120B, 406, 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC against SAFPL and other persons which included sons of the petitioner Sikander Singh and Vikas Kumar. The present ECIR dated 16.11.2021 was recorded at the Gurugram Zonal Office of Directorate of Enforcement under the PMLA, on account of the fact that a prima facie case of commission of the offence of money laundering was made out. It was further the case of the prosecution that forged bank guarantees were submitted by SAFPL to the Director, Town and Country Planning with respect to external development charges and internal development work for an amount of Rs. 2,63,23,892/- and Rs. 1,24,61,000/- respectively and the accused persons had directly / indirectly indulged in criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery etc. and thus, committed offences which were scheduled offences and generated proceeds of crime and made illegal/ wrongful gains. During the course of investigation, various other FIRs pertaining to commission of scheduled offences by the group companies of Mahira Group including SAFPL were also registered and the said FIRs were also taken on record by the Directorate of Enforcement (hereinafter referred to as "ED") for the purpose of comprehensive investigation. The details of the said FIRs are reproduced herienbelow:-