The court upheld the necessity of exhausting statutory remedies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act before invoking writ jurisdiction, affirming that 'proceeds of crime' includes property indirectly derived from criminal activity.

JUDGMENT :

Raja Vijayaraghavan V, J.

1. These appeals have been preferred against the common judgment dated 07.07.2025 passed by the learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P.(Crl) Nos. 48, 124 and 151 of 2025. The above petitions were preferred by the petitioners challenging the orders passed by the competent authority under section 8 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 ('PMLA' for the sake of brevity). The learned Single Judge relying on the observations made in Mohankumar K. and Another v. Union of India and Ors., [2025 SCC OnLine Ker.4188] held that when the Act provides for an appellate remedy, against an order passed under section 8, no interference was warranted. The Writ Petitions were accordingly dismissed granting the petitioners the liberty to agitate their grievance before the competent authority in accordance with law. The learned Single Judge also made it clear that the time during which these writ petitions were pending before this Court would stand excluded while calculating the period of limitation. The above orders are under challenge in these Appeals.

2. W.A.No. 1938 of 2025 is filed by Heera Summer Homes Pvt. Ltd., represented by its Managing Director, Sri. Abdul Rasheed. W.A.No. 1926 of 2025 is filed by Abdul Rasheed in its personal capacity and W.A.No. 1929 of 2025 is filed by Heera Educational and Charitable Trust, represented by its Managing Trustee, Sri. Abdul Rasheed.

3. The facts revealed that Crime No. RCO3(A)/19/CBI/ACB/Cochin dated 10.04.2019 against Sri. Abdul Rasheed, his family members and an entity by name "Heera Construction Company Pvt. Ltd." (HCCPL) in respect of a project loan secured by HCCPL of which the family members were Directors. The said company which was engaged in real estate was enjoying a credit facility. A project loan of Rs.15 Crores was sanctioned to HCCPL for the project "Heera Lake Front" at Akkulam on 27.09.2013 through the Kowdiar Branch of SBT to be repaid by 23.12.2016. The said loan was secured by the equitable mortgage of various items of property which included certain flats in an Apartment Project by name "Heera Lake Front" at Akkulam and an item of property having an undivided share of 30.995 cents in a total extent of 52.153 cents along with 26 shop rooms of Heera Plaza, Kollam and situated in Kollam East Village. Based on request of the HCCPL, the bank granted permission for part release of the mortgage property on the premise that the security available was sufficient to cover the exposure of the bank to the company. Later, it was revealed that HCCPL had sold the property which was kept as collateral security and they had also not remitted the same proceeds to the bank to bring down the liability. It was also revealed that the properties were sold by HCCPL without the permission of the bank. The loan was classified as NPA on 29.5.2017. When the bank initiated action to take possession of the primary security, being Heera Lake Front consisting of 72 apartments, it was revealed that almost all the flats had been sold by the company. On the allegation that the acts on the part of the accused tantamount to offences, a Cri