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TMI Blog2024 (7) TMI 1406X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... forum. If the person is finally discharged/acquitted of the scheduled offence or the criminal case against him is quashed by the Court of competent jurisdiction, there can be no offence of money-laundering against him or any one claiming such property being the property linked to stated scheduled offence through him.' A Coordinate Bench of this Court in case of Nayati Healthcare [ 2023 (10) TMI 822 - DELHI HIGH COURT ] has also considered the issue whether the prosecution initiated by the respondent/ED can be continued in a case where the accused has already been acquitted/discharged for the predicate offence, where it was held that 'the present complaint filed by the ED and the proceedings arising therefrom cannot survive. Considering that the FIR has been quashed by this court and that it has not been challenged till date, there can be no offence of money laundering under section 3 of the PMLA against the petitioners.' Thus, the present complaint filed by the respondent/ED and the consequential proceedings cannot survive. Considering that the co-accused Dr. Jeevan Kumar has been acquitted by the trial court vide judgment dated 22.03.2013 and that the said judgment has ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y. 3.1 The respondent/ED registered the ECIR bearing no. ECIR/7/DZ/2008 based on the alleged income derived by Dr. Jeevan Kumar from his criminal activity and the co-accused persons including the petitioner have been alleged to have assisted him in projecting it as untainted property. 3.2 The court of Sh. P.S. Teji, District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge (PMLA), East, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi framed the charge for the offence under section 3 of PMLA punishable under section 4 of PMLA against the petitioner vide the impugned order. 4. The trial court acquitted Dr. Jeevan Kumar of all the charges framed against him vide judgment dated 22.03.2013 and the same has not been challenged and has therefore, attained finality. 5. The counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that in view of the fact that the co-accused Dr. Jeevan Kumar has been acquitted by the trial court, the present complaint filed by the ED is not maintainable. In this regard, he places reliance on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary V Union of India, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 929; judgment of Division Bench of this Court in Harish Fabiani and Others V Enforcement Direc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... jurisdictional police and/or pending enquiry/trial including by way of criminal complaint before the competent forum. If the person is finally discharged/acquitted of the scheduled offence or the criminal case against him is quashed by the Court of competent jurisdiction, there can be no offence of money-laundering against him or any one claiming such property being the property linked to stated scheduled offence through him. 9. A Division Bench of this Court in Harish Fabiani (supra) also considered this issue and observed as under : 22. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has been clear and categorical in its reasoning as evident from the para extracted above. The undeniable sequitur of the above reasoning is that firstly, authorities under the PMLA cannot resort to action against any person for money-laundering on an assumption that the property recovered by them must be proceeds of crime and that a scheduled offence has been committed; secondly, the scheduled offence must be registered with the jurisdictional police or pending inquiry by way of complaint before the competent forum; thirdly, in the event there is already a registered scheduled offence but the person named in the crimi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oney laundering against the accused. Appropriate proceedings can be always filed by the concerned parties for challenging the order by which predicate offence was quashed. If the said order is set aside and the case is revived, it will be always open for the petitioner to revive the proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,2002. The Special Leave Petition is accordingly disposed of. 12. Similarly, another SLP being SLP (Crl.) Diary No.28128/2023 filed by the ED against the judgment of the Madras High Court on a similar issue was dismissed as withdrawn on the basis that the FIR on the predicate offence had been quashed. 13. The Telangana High Court in Manturi Shashi Kumar (supra) [Manturi Shashi Kumar V Director, Directorate of Enforcement, 2023 SCC OnLine TS 1098] has also quashed a complaint under Section 3 of the PMLA on the grounds of the accused being discharged/acquitted of the scheduled offence. The relevant observations of the said judgment are set out below:- 28. Thus, according to Supreme Court, the offence under Section 3 of PMLA is dependent on illegal gain of property as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence. If the person is fina ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of equal strength of this Court, it is the earlier one which is to be followed by the High Courts, as held by a 5-Judge Bench in National Insurance Company Limited v. Pranay Sethi, (2017) 16 SCC 6805. The High Courts, of course, will do so with careful regard to the facts and circumstances of the case before it. 12. In view of the aforesaid legal position, the present complaint filed by the respondent/ED and the consequential proceedings cannot survive. Considering that the co-accused Dr. Jeevan Kumar has been acquitted by the trial court vide judgment dated 22.03.2013 and that the said judgment has not been challenged till date, there can be no offence of money laundering under section 3 of PMLA against the petitioner. Accordingly, the impugned order is set aside qua the petitioner along with all consequential proceedings arising therefrom stated to be pending before the concerned court. 13. The respondent/ED shall be at liberty to initiate appropriate proceedings for the revival of the present complaint along with consequential proceedings in case of altered circumstances or in view of the final decision of the Supreme Court in SLP (Crl.) Diary No.42315/2022 titled as Directorat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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