New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to a Chhattisgarh-based businessman, who was arrested in connection with a money laundering case involving the illegal levy on coal transportation, after noting that he had already undergone incarceration for 19 months and “no predicate offence under Section 384 of IPC or any other provision of IPC against” him.
A bench comprising justices Surya Kant and Vishwanathan said: “As of date there is no predicate offence under Section 384 of IPC or any other provision of IPC against the petitioner. The chargesheet has been filed only under Sections 204 and 353 of IPC, and both are not scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)”.
Sunil Kumar Agarwal moved the apex court assailing the Chhattisgarh High Court, which rejected his bail on April 8. Agarwal was represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocates Tushar Giri and Sahil Bhalaik.
During the hearing on Friday, the apex court had queried the additional solicitor general SV Raju, representing the ED, that there must be a predicate offence registered in the case. “Otherwise, how can the agency proceed on its own? PMLA is a parasitic offence. It must have a predicate offence to survive. It doesn’t have its legs to stand”, Justice Vishwanathan queried Raju.
The central agency emphasised that investigation into money laundering offences was independent of the probe conducted by any other law enforcement agency in a predicate offence. Raju said that, as a result, a person accused in an ED case need not necessarily be accused of a scheduled offence.
The apex court, in its order, which was uploaded today, said: “As regard to the observations made by the Karnataka Police in the chargesheet, reproduced above, Raju, fairly states that so far, the Chhattisgarh police have not registered any offence under Section 384 of IPC, nor has any investigation conducted by them, has been brought to the notice of the ED”.
Raju requested the court give him some time to find out the status of the investigation and its outcome, if any, conducted by the Chhattisgarh police. The bench granted six weeks to ED to find out the status of that investigation and place on record the additional affidavit, along with the relevant material.
The bench said Agarwal has already undergone incarceration for about one year and seven months and he is not named as the accused in the 2022 FIR or the chargesheet dated June 8, 2023. “Consequently, but without expressing any final opinion with regards to the prayer, we find that the petitioner has made out a prima facie strong case for his enlargement on interim bail”, said the bench.
The bench directed that the petitioner should be released on interim bail subject to his furnishing bail bonds to the satisfaction of the special court, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The matter has been scheduled for further hearing on August 7.
The Enforcement Directorate began the probe investigation based on a report from the Income Tax department and arrested Agarwal in October 2022 following the registration of an ECIR in Raipur, in a connected criminal case against a co-accused in a case registered in Bengaluru.
An FIR was registered on July 12, 2022, at Kadugodi Police Station, Whitefield, Bengaluru, Karnataka, under Sections 186, 204, 353 read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, against one Suryakant Tiwari and his associates.
The said FIR was registered on a complaint lodged by the Deputy Director of Income Tax Investigation, Foreign Assets Investigation Unit-1, Bengaluru, alleging that during a search by the Income Tax Department on June 30, 2022, Suryakant Tiwari obstructed the officials from carrying out their official duties and destroyed crucial incriminating documents and digital evidence about alleged illegal extortion of coal transportation. Pending investigation, an offence under Section 384 of IPC was also added on September 9, 2022, in that FIR.
“It seems that there have been various alleged transactions re: sale and purchase of immovable properties between the above-named Suryakant Tiwari and the petitioner’s-companies”, noted the apex court.
The Central Board and Direct Taxes (CBDT) forwarded the case to the ED to the above-mentioned FIR, along with a report of the investigation conducted by the Income Tax Department. This led to the registration of the subject crime case by the Directorate of Enforcement on September 29, 2022.
“Subsequently, the Karnataka Police filed a chargesheet in FIR (2022) on 08.06.2023, in which the offences under Sections 384 and 120B of IPC were dropped. It seems that the offence under Section 186 of IPC was also dropped. We say so for the reason that the chargesheet was filed only under Sections 204 and 353 of IPC”, noted the apex court.
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