Home Case Index All Cases Money Laundering Money Laundering + HC Money Laundering - 2023 (6) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2023 (6) TMI 503 - HC - Money LaunderingSeeking grant of Anticipatory Bail - delay in handing over/delivery of possession of apartments/ commercial units - concurrent jurisdiction casted upon the Court of Session and High Court - HELD THAT:- This Court is of the view that this Court has the jurisdiction to entertain the bail application under Section 438 even when the applicant has not approached the Court of Sessions first. To argue upon the limited purposes for which the parties are before this Court today, reference has been made to the twin test which has been provided under the PMLA and which has been relied upon the Courts while considering cases under the Act. The twin conditions serve as a definitive test for the Courts to form an opinion - there is no doubt that in order to link any accused with the offences under the PMLA, the twin test must be satisfied. In the instant case, the respondent/ED has yet not been able to show whether that the Applicant has been charged with or even linked to the Scheduled Offences as provided under the PMLA. Moreover, it has been settled that jail is exception and bail is the rule, as has also been observed in spirit in the landmark judgment passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in SUSHILA AGGARWAL AND OTHERS VERSUS STATE (NCT OF DELHI) AND ANOTHER [2020 (1) TMI 1193 - SUPREME COURT] that arrest should be done in the rarest of the rare case. Even if the authorities are not satisfied then jail is the last weapon in the hand of the Authorities. In the matter at hand, it has been stated that three times the Applicant and the M3M Group were summoned and on all the occasions the representative on their behalf appeared and cooperated in the investigation. Further, the respondent has already seized numerous assets, including cars, cash, jewelry, etc. and also issued letters to bankers of M3M and its Group Companies directing that various bank accounts of the Company and its group concerns be marked as 'debit freeze' accounts. Moreover, the Applicant has yet not been implicated in any Scheduled Offences as provided under the PMLA and in fact, the ECIR does not even find mention of the name of the Applicant or any of the M3M Companies. It has also been submitted that the when summoned by the respondent, one of the representatives on behalf of the Applicant or the M3M Group has always appeared before the respondent for inquiry and investigation. In view of the fact that the Applicant has not been named in the ECIR and that the respondent has not yet been able to implicate the Applicant in any of the Scheduled Offences under the PMLA, in the interest of justice as well as considering the mandate of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, this Court is of the considered opinion that the Applicant may be granted interim protection till the next date of hearing - in the event of any arrest of the Applicant, he shall be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,00,000/- with two sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the Investigating Agency, subject to the conditions imposed. Application allowed.
|