LI Network
Published on: February 10, 2024 at 12:49 IST
The Patna High Court recently granted a stay on a money laundering case involving an accused charged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the alleged supply of liquor in Bihar, breaching the Bihar Excise Prohibition Act, 2016 [Sunil Bhardwaj @ Sunil Kumar v. Deputy Director, Directorate Of Enforcement].
Justice Satyavrat Verma directed the ED to respond to the petition seeking the quashing of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) filed by the ED in 2022.
The petitioner, Sunil Bhardwaj, approached the court to dismiss the money laundering case, arguing that the ED could not have registered the ECIR since the offense punishable under the Bihar Excise Prohibition Act is not listed in the schedule of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The petitioner’s counsel contended that the key issue in the case is whether the ED, using section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, can bring any offense within the scope of the PMLA.
The counsel referred to a recent Supreme Court verdict in Pavana Dibbur vs Directorate of Enforcement, asserting that an offense under Section 120B of the IPC becomes a PMLA offense only if the conspiracy is to commit an offense specifically included in the IPC schedule.
The Court was informed, “Any offense committed under the Bihar Excise Prohibition Act, 2016, would not come within the purview of the ED, as an offense committed under the Bihar Excise Prohibition Act, 2016, is not a scheduled offense.”
The ED’s legal representative requested six weeks to file a counter affidavit. The Court granted the request, directing, “The counter affidavit shall give a parawise reply to the pleadings made in the quashing application and shall also reply to the submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioner based on the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”
The Court is scheduled to revisit the case on April 29. While issuing the stay on further proceedings in the ECIR, the court clarified that the stay only applies to the petitioner.
