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TMI Blog2015 (1) TMI 1517X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as there is chance of influencing or tampering with the witness and evidence. As such, he is not entitled to be released on bail on the count that he remained in custody for more than two years which is long incarceration.
Conclusion - The applicant did not fulfill the twin conditions for bail under Section 45 of the PMLA. The arguments regarding delay in trial, medical conditions, and parity with co-accused were insufficient to warrant bail.
Bail application rejected. X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e than Rs. 500 crores in 16 months from different kinds of levies. On 29.09.2022, ECIR/RPZ0/09/2022 was registered by Directorate of Enforcement, Raipur Zonal Office for commission of offence under Sections 120 (B) & 384 of IPC being a part of FIR No. 129/2022. Role of the applicant:- 4.The role of present applicant is that the applicant with connivance of Saumya Chaurasia, Sameer Vishnoi and other senior bureaucrats and politicians hatched a conspiracy of illegal extortion of Rs. 25/- per ton on Coal which was transported from SECL mines & other places and the same was being carried out with the active connivance of State Mining Officials, District Officials, by using a wide network of agents which were stationed in the coal belt by maintaining a close liaison with the administration. The applicant deployed his employees namely Roshan Singh, Nikhil Chandrakar & Rajnikant Tiwari at Raipur, Navneet Tiwari at Korba, Moinuddin Qureshi & Parekh Kurrey at Korba and Rahul Singh & Virendra Jaiswal, Montu Jaiswal at Surajpur for collecting illegal levy on coal transportation as well as other sections. This coal syndicate had extorted illegal levy of of Rs. 540 crores approximately from C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the right to bail in cases of delay, coupled with incarceration for a long period should be read into Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. and Section 45 of the PMLA, 2002 as the constitutional mandate is the higher law and it is the basic right of the person charged of an offence and not convicted, that he be given a speedy trial. When the trial is not proceeding for reasons not attributable to the accused, the court unless there are good reasons, may well be guided to exercise the power to grant bail. He would further submit that the bail application of an accused cannot be rejected on the ground of severity of the offence or due to the bar contained in Section 45 of the PMLA, 2022 in cases where there is a violation of the accused's right to speedy trial coupled with long period of pre-trial incarceration and if the trial gets protracted and it is clear that case will not be decided within a foreseeable time, the accused person is entitled to bail. He would further submit that it is well settled position of law that the object of bail is neither punitive nor preventative and the primary purpose of bail in a criminal case is to ensure that the accused will submit to the jurisdiction of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed due to non-appearance of other accused persons. In this regard, it is submitted that firstly, the delay has been occasioned not due to any act/omission of the applicant, as such, the delay is not attributable to the applicant, and secondly, non-appearance of the other accused persons cannot be a ground to keep the applicant under indefinite pre-trial incarceration especially since the applicant has already been in custody for over 22 months. He would further submit that Hon'ble the Supreme Court in so many cases has granted benefit of bail to the accused on the ground of long custody and delay in conclusion of trial, in identical facts where the delay was occasioned due to other accused persons not appearing/ having been declared proclaimed offenders. He would further submit that since further investigation is going on in the instant case, no charges can be framed and the trial cannot commence. The trial does not even seem likely to commence in the near future let alone conclude in the near future. Thus, the applicant is entitled to be granted bail and released from custody at the earliest. 9.He would further submit that the investigation qua the applicant is complete and the p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... annot be any discrimination between two similarly placed accused persons in terms of granting bail, therefore, the applicant is entitled for grant of regular bail. 11.He would further submit that the crux of the allegation against the applicant is that he was involved in running an alleged extortion racket wherein an amount of Rs 25/- per ton of coal was extorted for its transportation out of the coal mine fields However, the offence of extortion under Section 384 of IPC was not alleged in the Bengaluru FIR initially upon its registration on 12.07.2022 and was only added subsequently on 03.09 2022 Further, after due investigation, the Bengaluru Police dropped the offence of Section 384 IPC from its charge-sheet filed on 08.06. 2023 and even the concerned court in Bengaluru only took cognizance of offences under Sections 353 and 204 IPC and not of Section 384 of IPC. Furthermore, even the EOW, Raipur did not include Section 384 of IPC in its FIR registered on 17.01.2024. Thus, it is clear that the offence of extortion under Section 384 of IPC is not made out against the applicant, therefore, the very basis of the entire case against the applicant is non-existent. He would further s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by this Court and would pray for releasing he applicant on bail. 14.The applicant has also filed application for taking additional documents on record contending that health condition of the applicant is deteriorating and was admitted in the hospital for treatment and subsequently discharged but still there is no substantial recovery in the health of the applicant. To substantiate his submission, he has annexed the medical report. Considering this submission, this Court has directed the prosecution to submit the medical report which was not clarified whether the health condition of the applicant is deteriorating or not, as such, this Court has directed the Dean, Government Medical College, Raipur to constitute a committee of Neurologist, Gastrologist and Cardiologist by 20 th December, 2024 and submit its report within a week. Thereafter, the matter was listed on 2 nd January, 2025. On 2 nd January, 2025, a report was submitted but it does not speak why the applicant's blood pressure is not being controlled, therefore, this Court further directed for ascertaining the reason why the blood pressure of the applicant is not being controlled and to ascertain the reason, an angiography ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cartel led by the applicant, modified the pre-existing transparent online process of getting e-permits for transporting coal from mines to users, into a system which made it prone to massive corruption. He would further submit that FIR No. 129/2022 dated 12.07.2022 was registered by Kadugodi Police Station, Whitefield, Bengaluru under Sections 186, 204, 353 & 120 (B) of IPC against the applicant and others on the basis of complaint filed by the Deputy Director of Income Tax, Foreign Assets Investigation Unit-1, Bengaluru, stating that as part of a conspiracy, during the course of search by Income Tax Department on 30.06.2022 at Room No. 664, Hotel Sheraton Grand, Whitefield, Bengaluru, the applicant obstructed the officials from carrying their official duties and had destroyed crucial incriminating documents and digital evidences which supposedly contained important information about the illegal extortion, payments collected and persons involved. The said FIR is under investigation. Thereafter, vide O.M in F.No. 289/ED/36/2022-IT (Inv.II) dated 13.09.2022, CBDT has forwarded the copy of the above FIR No. 129/2022 dated 12.07.2022 under Sections 186, 204, 353, 384 & 120 (B) of IPC a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... amount was to be paid in cash. Thus, large amount of illegally acquired cash was layered in these transactions. He would further submit that after the Income Tax raids, the other co-accused person has made sham paper transactions to show that he was the owner of these two washeries. These transactions were nothing but a futile attempt to alienate the ill-gotten proceeds of crime and take them far away from the arms of Income Tax & Enforcement Department and to prevent their attachment and to claim them as untainted assets. The said accused knowingly and willingly participated in these transactions to layer and obfuscate the real ownership of these tainted properties despite being a man of means and business standing, be knowingly acted as a benami for present applicant and has assisted in the money laundering process. He would further submit that apart from the above two washeries, after the income tax raids on the applicant and his associates, Indermani Group purchased all the benami properties of the applicant to safeguard the ill-gotten proceeds of crime and to frustrate the efforts of Enforcement Directorate to attach the proceeds of crime in future. He would further submit th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed on 15.11.2022]. 22.I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the documents placed on record including ECIR with utmost satisfaction. 23.From the above discussion, the point to be emerged for determination by this Court is :- "Whether the applicant fulfills twin conditions of Section 45 of the PMLA, 2002 for grant of bail?" 24.Before adverting to the facts of the case, it is expedient for this Court to extract Section 45 of the PMLA, 2002, which reads as under:- "Section 45 of PMLA, 2002- Offences to be cognizable and non-bailable.-- (1) [Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), no person accused of an offence [under this Act] shall be released on bail or on his own bond unless--] (i) the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity to oppose the application for such release; and (ii) where the Public Prosecutor opposes the application, the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail: Provided that a person, who, is under the age of sixteen years, or is a woman or is sick or infirm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion with Smt. Saumya Chaurasia and in turn with other senior IAS/IPS officers as well as politicians. The proceeds of crime generated by this syndicate has been utilized for political funding, making bribes to Government Officials, purchasing of properties including coal washeries by the applicant, Smt. Saumya Chaurasia in the name of their benamidars and members of syndicate & their family members. The ECIR further prima facie reveals that the present applicant has played specific role and he is kingpin of the offence. The investigation revealed that the applicant acquired coal washeries from M/s Indus Udyog & Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Satya Power and Ispat Ltd. These coal washeries were acquired for an amount of Rs. 96 Crore, out of which Rs. 34 Crore was the registered value and was paid through banking channel and rest of the amount was to be paid in cash. Thus, large amount of illegally acquired cash was layered in these transactions. From the material so collected by the Enforcement Directorate, it is prima facie reflected that after the Income Tax raids, the other co-accused person has made sham paper transactions to show that he was the owner of these two washeries. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s submitted order-sheet of the trial Court which clearly demonstrates that various applications have been filed by the other co-accused persons before learned trial Court, which have been decided by the trial Court causing delay in conclusion of trial. As such, this ground deserves to be rejected and accordingly, it is rejected. 27.Learned Senior counsel for the applicant would submit that Hon'ble the Supreme Court has granted bail to the other co-accused person on the count of delay, therefore, the applicant should also be considered for releasing him on bail, deserves to be rejected looking to the role played by the applicant as he is the kingpin as mastermind of the offence. 28.Further submission of learned Senior counsel for the applicant that the applicant is entitled to get bail on medical ground is being considered by this Court. This Court considering this submission has issued various directions for medical examination and this Court finally directed for angiography and other tests to find out the reason for applicant's alleged deteriorate medical condition, which he refused to undergo. Therefore, I am of the view that the ground for grant of bail on medical also deserve ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... writing in this behalf by the Central Government by a general or special order made in this behalf by that Government. [(1-A) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), or any other provision of this Act, no police officer shall investigate into an offence under this Act unless specifically authorised, by the Central Government by a general or special order, and, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.] (2) The limitation on granting of bail specified in [* * *] sub-section (1) is in addition to the limitations under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) or any other law for the time being in force on granting of bail." By the impugned judgment(s) and order(s) and while granting bail, the High Court has not considered the rigour of Section 45 of the PML Act, 2002. 6.1 Even otherwise, the High Court has not at all considered the nature of allegations and seriousness of the offences alleged of money laundering and the offences under the PML Act, 2002. Looking to the nature of allegations, it can be said that the same can be said to be very serious allegations of money laundering which are required to be investi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns made hereinabove." 30.Learned Senior counsel for the applicant would submit that since the applicant remained in jail for more than two years and maximum sentence which can be awarded is seven years, therefore, he should be released on bail. This submission also deserves to be rejected looking to gravity and seriousness of the offence and the role played by the applicant as there is chance of influencing or tampering with the witness and evidence. As such, he is not entitled to be released on bail on the count that he remained in custody for more than two years which is long incarceration. 31.Considering the ECIR and other material placed on record, which prima facie shows involvement of the applicant in crime in question and also considering the law laid down by Hon'ble the Supreme Court, it is quite vivid that the applicant is unable to fulfill the twin conditions for grant of bail as provided under Section 45 of the PMLA, 2002. Thus, the Point is answered against the applicant. 32.Considering the above stated factual and legal matrix, the role played by the applicant, I am not inclined to enlarge the applicant on bail. 33.Accordingly, the bail application filed under Sect ..... 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