Properties acquired prior to alleged predicate crimes cannot be linked as proceeds of crime under the PMLA; a person can be charged for money laundering without being listed as an accused in the predicate offences.

ABHAY S. OKA, J.

OVERVIEW

1.

The respondent–the Directorate of Enforcement (for

short, ‘ED’), filed a complaint under the second proviso to

Section 45 (1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,

2002 (for short, ‘the PMLA’) before the Special Court for PMLA

Cases at Bengaluru. The appellant–Pavana Dibbur was

shown as accused no.6 in the said complaint. By the order

dated 17^th March 2022, the Special Court took cognisance of

the said complaint. The appellant filed a petition before the

High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru under Section 482 of

the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, ‘Cr.PC’)

seeking the relief of quashing of the said complaint. By the

Criminal Appeal No.2779 of 2023

Page 1 of 31

Digitally signed by

Anita Malhotra

Date: 2023.11.29

17:22:54 IST

Reason:

Signature Not Verified

impugned judgment and order dated 27^th September 2022,

the petition for quashing the complaint has been dismissed.

2.

In the year 2011, Alliance Business School (for short,

‘ABS’) purchased a property bearing Khata no.37/22 at

Gollahalli Village, Jigani Hobli, Anekal Taluk, Bengaluru for

the consideration of Rs.13.05 crores. The area of the said

property is approximately five acres. For the sake of

convenience, we are describing the said property as ‘the First

Property’. On 1^st July 2013, the appellant purchased the first

property from ABS by a registered sale deed for a

consideration of Rs.13.5 crores. The accused no.1–Madhukar

Angur, purchased a property measuring 4 acres and 0.4

Guntas bearing survey nos.61, 62 and 63 at Karpur Village,

Kasaba Hobli, Anekal Taluk, Bengaluru. For the sake of

convenience, we are describing this property as ‘the Second

Property’. The appellant purchased the second property by a

registered sale deed on 29^th June 2019 for a consideration of

Rs.2.47 crores from accused no.1–Madhukar Angur.

3.

For a period of five years, i.e. from 2010 to 2015, the

appellant’s husband–Dr Ayyappa Dore, was the Vice­

Chancellor of the Alliance University. The appellant also

acted as the Vice­Chancellor of the Alliance University for a

brief period. On 11^th November 2017, a First Information

Report (FIR) was registered on the complaint of the Registrar

of the Alliance University against accused no.1–Madhukar

Angur, alleging that he collected a sum of Rs.107 crores from

Criminal Appeal No.2779 of 2023

Page 2 of 31

the students by claiming himself as the Chancellor of the

Alliance University. The allegation was that he collected the

said amount between January 2017 and November 2017,

which was deposited in the account of Srivari Education

Services. Subsequently, crores of rupees were transferred to

the account of the accused no.1.

4.

An Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was

registered on 16^th October 2020 by the ED against accused

nos.1, 2 and 3, namely Madhukar Angur, his wife Priyanka

Angur and Mr Ravikumar, Partner, Srivari Education Services

and other unknown accused alleging the commission of the

offence of money laundering under Section 3 of the PMLA.

The ECIR was based on four FIRs, the details of which are as

under:

Sl.

No.

FIR No.

Sections

in FIR

Chargesheet

Sections

under

which the

Chargesheet

was filed

1.

119 of 2016

(PS

Jayaprakash

Nagar)

376, 420

and 506

of IPC

B­Report

filed/

Closure

Report filed

on 2^nd

February

2017

Closure

Report

accepted

2.

730 of 2016

(PS

Madiwala)

1