The court recognized health conditions as sufficient grounds for granting bail despite strict provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

ORAL ORDER

The petitioner who is accused no.1 before the trial court happens to be the sitting Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has fild the present petition seeking to be enlarged on regular bail or direct the respondent-ED to release him on bail in the event of his arrest/re-arrest in ECIR/BGZO/20/2025 for the offence under Section 3 , punishable under Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 ('PMLA Act' for short).

2. The brief facts for the purpose of disposal of the present petition which relates to release of the petitioner on bail are that the respondent Enforcement Directorate had registered ECIR/BGZO/20/2025 on 04.08.2025 for the offence under Section 3 , punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA Act, 2002 against accused no.1 and others. Further it is to be noticed that during the process of investigation, petitioner having been arrested, petitioner had sought for bail before the Trial Court. The trial court had initially granted interim bail to the petitioner and eventually the application for bail came to be rejected by order dated 07.11.2025 by the Special Court.

3. The petitioner had sought to be enlarged on bail on medical grounds before the Trial Court. The trial court by a detailed order though having taken note of the medical condition of the petitioner, had however felt that the ground under Section 45 of the PMLA Act, 2002, i.e., sick or infirm was not made out.

4. The petitioner has now filed the present petition before this court and seeks to be enlarged on bail.

5. The present petition came to be filed on 10.11.2025 and this court by order dated 10.11.2025 had granted interim bail taking note of the interim bail granted by the Special Court which was granted on 11.09.2025 and was in force till passing of the order rejecting the bail application on 07.11.2025. Since then, the protection granted by way of interim relief has been extended till date and accordingly, the petitioner is in effect on bail.

6. It must be noticed that the present petition being limited to grant of bail on medical grounds, narration of other facts may not be of much consequence. The grounds on which the petitioner had sought to be enlarged on bail is while placing reliance to the proviso to Section 45 (1) of PMLA Act, 2002. The proviso which is an enabling provision provides that if a person is sick or infirm, such person may be released on bail if the court so directs.

7. Section 45 and the relevant proviso is extracted below for reference.

" Section 45 - Offences to be cognizable and non-bailable.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), no person accused of an offence under this Act shall be released on bail or on his own bond unless

(i) the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity to oppose the application for such release; and

(ii) where the Public Prosecutor opposes the application, the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail:

Provided that a person, who, is under the age of sixteen years, or is a woman or is sick or infirm, or is accused either on his own or along with other co-accused of money-laundering a sum of less than one crore rupees may be released on bail, if the Special Court so directs:

8. The facts that are made out is that the petitioner has been diagnosed with early signs of Liver Cirrhosis during the month of August, 2023 at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi and has been suffering from multiple ailments such as pituitary gland cyst, liver cirrhosis, severe fluid retention, urinary difficulties