TMI Blog2021 (2) TMI 1276X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he fact remains that 22 cases of serious nature were registered by the police against Sridhar, which include murder, attempt to murder, extortion, criminal intimidation, use of fire arms and criminal conspiracy to commit such offences. It is not in dispute that most of the offences mentioned in the FIRs are schedule offences under the PML Act and therefore, the Enforcement Directorate was justified in registering a case under the PML Act and taking up the investigation. The Enforcement Directorate has conducted extensive investigation and has identified 5 immovable properties in the name of Sridhar, 68 immovable properties in the name of Kumari, his wife, 10 immovable properties in the name of the petitioner, apart from the immovable proper ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... For the petitioner Mr. R. Rajarathinam For the respondent Ms. G. Hema Central Government Standing Counsel ORDER P.N. PRAKASH, J. The principal accused in this case is one Sridhar Dhanapal, (for short Sridhar ), who bears the moniker Kanchipuram Don and has to his credit, 26 criminal cases, including murder cases, attempt to murder cases, extortion cases and cases under the Arms Act. Police say that he started his career as a petty bootlegger, but, diversified his enterprise into serious crimes like extortion and murder when he found it to be very lucrative. It is said that he escaped to Dubai and continued to remote control his criminal empire with his minions in India until his demise on 04.10.2017. 2 The Su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 482 Cr.P.C. 4 Heard Mr. R. Rajarathinam, learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. G.Hema, learned Central Government Standing Counsel appearing for the respondent. 5 Concededly, Sridhar died on 04.10.2017 during the pendency of the prosecution. 6 Mr. Rajarathinam submitted that the petitioner cannot be prosecuted under the PML Act for the alleged sins of her father, inasmuch as, she had no knowledge that her father had acquired the assets that stand in her name with the proceeds of crime and that she is a student, her date of birth being 17.10.1994. He further contended that, in this case, there are no proceeds of crime at all, inasmuch as, the 22 FIRs relate to cases of physical violence, trespass and criminal intimidation and t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of the other accused. It is not the case of the accused that Sridhar was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and that by sheer dint of hard work expending his sweat and blood, he had acquired the properties. The properties that stand in the name of the petitioner are valued at ₹ 19 crores. In the complaint, the Enforcement Directorate has given the guideline value of the properties acquired by Sridhar and his cohorts and has also given the actual price paid for the properties. The margin between the two, viz., the guideline value and the actual purchase price, appears to be very wide. For instance, there are 10 immovable properties in the name of the petitioner for which the guideline value is around ₹ 19 crores, whereas, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 019, an explanation to Section 3 has been added which clearly closes all escape routes for an accused. The explanation begins with the expression For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that . This means that the Parliament had not introduced anything new via the explanation, but has explicitly disclosed its original intention when Section 3 was first enacted. 13 Why does one designedly engage in criminal activities? Apart from several other reasons, one reason is to acquire riches for himself and his family members. In this context, it is worth referring to an anecdote that led to the Ramayana being written. When sage Narada asked the highway robber Ratnakara as to why he was indulging in robbery, the latter replied that h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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