The right to personal liberty under Article 21 prevails over prolonged pre-trial incarceration, with bail granted subject to stringent conditions.

JUDGMENT :

Anoop Chitkara, J.

Arising out of,

1. The petitioner incarcerated in the complaint captioned above had come up before this Court under Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, [BNSS], read with Sections 44, 45 and 65 of PMLA seeking regular bail.

2. Per paragraph 41 of the bail application and the custody certificate, the accused has history of case(s) marked above.

3. The facts and allegations are being taken from the reply filed by the ED, which reads as follows:

'33. That based on the money laundering investigation carried out under PMLA, 2002 by the Directorate of Enforcement, it was revealed that Anil Nagar, the then Deputy Secretary, HPSC along with Ashwani Kumar @ Ashwani Sharma connived with Naveen, Pawan Gupta & other middlemen for taking bribe for getting the candidates fraudulently qualifying in Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) & Other Allied Services Examination 2021 & Dental Surgeon (Class II) Examination 2021 conducted by the HPSC. Hence the Authorized Officer, the Deputy Director, on the basis of the materials placed before him, had reasonable belief that the movable properties detailed below with total value of Rs. 3,29,97,000/- (Rupees Three Crore Twenty Nine Lakh Ninety Seven Thousand Only) were proceeds of crime in terms of section 2(1) (u) of the PMLA, 2002, generated by accused persons through criminal activities criminal activities related to scheduled offences and attached the same vide Provisional Attachment Order (hereinafter referred to as PAO) No. 05/2022 dated 30.03.2022 issued u/s 5(1) of the PMLA, 2002.

34. That in terms of section 5(5) of the PMLA, 2002, an Original Complaint (hereinafter referred to as OC) was required to file within 30 days of issuing the PAO before the Ld. Adjudicating Authority, PMLA, New Delhi, with prayer to confirm the said PAO u/s 8(3) of the PMLA, 2002. As the properties was derived and acquired from and out of proceeds of crime, as defined u/s 2(1) (u) of the PMLA, 2002, and were projected as untainted properties and thus involved in the offence of money laundering, an Original Complaint was filed on 25.04.2022 u/s 5(5) of the PMLA, 2002 within stipulated time with prayer to confirm the PAO No. 05/2022 dated 30.03.2022 in terms of section 8(3) of the PMLA, 2002. The Ld. Adjudicating Authority, PMLA allotted the OC No. 1701/2022 to the said Original Complaint.'

4. The petitioner's counsel prays for bail by imposing any stringent conditions and contends that further pre-trial incarceration would cause an irreversible injustice to the petitioner and their family.

5. The State's counsel opposes bail and refers to the reply.

6. It would be appropriate to refer to the following portions of the reply, which read as follows:

'5. That, in the instant case, following summons were issued u/s 50 of the PMLA, 2002 to Anil Nagar, the Petitioner, herein by the Directorate:-