2026:CGHC:11504 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR ORDER RESERVED ON 28.02.2026 ORDER DELIVERED ON 10.03.2026 ORDER UPLOADED ON 10.03.2026 MCRC No. 1065 of 2026 Niranjan Das S/o Late Shri Laxminarayan Das Aged About 63 Years R/o House No. 61, Rama Greens, Near Las Vista Society, Amlidih, VIP Road, Labhandih, Raipur, Distt. Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

... Applicant (s)

versus Directorate Of Enforcement Through Assistant Director, E.D. Raipur Zonal Office, Raipur, Distt. Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

... Respondent(s)

(HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE ARVIND KUMAR VERMA)

C A V Order

The present application is the first bail application filed by the Applicant under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 read with Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in connection with ECIR No. ECIR/RPZO/04/2024 dated 11.04.2024 registered by the Directorate of Enforcement for the offences punishable under Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA. The said ECIR is predicated upon FIR No. 04/2024 dated 17.01.2024 registered by ACB, Raipur for offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC read with Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, relating to the alleged liquor scam in the State of Chhattisgarh.

BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE

2. The genesis of the present proceedings traces back to a prosecution complaint filed by the Income Tax Department bearing Ct. Case No.1183/2022 under Sections 276C, 277 and 278E of the Income Tax Act read with Sections 120-B, 191, 199, 200 and 204 IPC, on the basis of which the Directorate of Enforcement registered ECIR No. ECIR/RPZO/11/2022 (ECIR-11). The said ECIR was premised upon an erroneous assumption that Section 120-B IPC by itself constituted a scheduled offence under the PMLA. The validity of ECIR-11 was subsequently challenged before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Writ Petition (Criminal) No.153 of 2023 by certain co-accused persons.

3. By orders dated 28.04.2023 and 18.07.2023, the Hon’ble Supreme Court granted protection to the concerned petitioners and stayed further proceedings in relation to ECIR-11. Eventually, the Supreme Court by judgment dated 08.04.2024 quashed the prosecution complaint forming the basis of ECIR-11 holding that no scheduled offence was made out and consequently there were no proceeds of crime under the PMLA in relation thereto.

4. Prior thereto, upon realizing the absence of any scheduled offence in ECIR-11, the Directorate of Enforcement had addressed a communication dated 11.07.2023 under Section 66 of the PMLA to the ACB, Raipur seeking registration of an FIR so as to create a predicate offence. A similar communication was also sent to the Uttar Pradesh Police on 28.07.2023. Pursuant thereto, FIR No.196/2023 dated 30.07.2023 was registered at Police Station Kasna, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh under Sections 420, 468, 471, 473, 484 and 120-B IPC.

Subsequently, FIR No.04/2024 dated17.01.2024 was registered by ACB/EOW, Raipur relating to the alleged liquor scam in the State of Chhattisgarh, which was treated as the predicate offence for the purposes of the PMLA. Immediately after the quashing of ECIR-11 by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the Directorate of Enforcement registered the present ECIR No. ECIR/RPZO/04/2024 on 11.04.2024 treating the Chhattisgarh FIR as the underlying scheduled offence.

5. In the meantime, certain co-accused persons including the Applicant had approached this Court seeking quashing of the predicate offence FIR. During the pendency of those proceedings, the respondent agency made a statement before this Court that no coercive action would be taken against the applicants. However, the said petition was eventually dismissed by order dated 20.08.2024 and the interim protection granted earlier stood vacated. The said order was thereafter challenged before the Supreme Court in SLP (Criminal) No.12864 of 2024. The Supreme Court, while dismissing the petitions on 16.09.2025, issued a categorical direction to the investigating agencies incl