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2024 (1) TMI 1249 - HC - Money LaunderingMoney Laundering - Criminal conspiracy - petitioner was convicted for the predicate offences under Sections 120B, 409 r/w 109 of the IPC - whether the respondent can maintain the complaint if the predicate offence is the offence of criminal conspiracy? - HELD THAT:- The Hon'ble Supreme Court answered this question in Pavana Dibbur's case [2023 (12) TMI 49 - SUPREME COURT] holding that in the charge sheets filed in the alleged scheduled offences, there is no allegation of the commission of criminal conspiracy to commit any of the offences included in the Schedule. As pointed out earlier, except for Section 120-B of the IPC, no other offence in the schedule has been applied. Therefore, in this case, the scheduled offence does not exist at all. Hence, the appellant cannot be prosecuted for the offences punishable under Section 3 of the PMLA. The petitioner was convicted for the offence of 409 r/w 109 and 120B of the IPC. Therefore, the predicate offence alleged and proved is conspiracy to commit offence under Section 409 of the IPC which is not a scheduled offence. Therefore, even assuming that there are proceeds of crime, it cannot be said to be as a result of commission of a scheduled offence, which is a prerequisite to maintain a complaint under Section 3 of the PMLA. Since the respondent has no jurisdiction to invoke the provisions of PMLA, as there are no proceeds of crime relating to any scheduled offence, the proceedings impugned in the Writ Petition is also liable to be set aside. Consequentially, though the Provisional Attachment Order has not been challenged, it is held that the said attachment order is also without jurisdiction. The Criminal Original Petition and the Writ Petition are allowed.
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