Asif Wani
Srinagar, Aug 14: Jammu & Kashmir High Court on Wednesday quashed the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate against former CM Farooq Abdullah and five others in the alleged multi-crore cricket scam.
The single bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar allowed the petition filed by Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, who stands accused alongside Farooq Abdullah and other persons in misappropriation of funds in JKCA and quashed the charges against them under PMLA.
The court held that the chargesheet filed by the CBI does not make out any offence of money laundering as defined under Section 3 of PMLA. “For commission of offence of money laundering under Section 3 of PMLA, it is required to be demonstrated that the accused has directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime. Such activity could be concealment possession, acquisition or use of the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property,” the court observed.
Farooq Abdullah was made accused in the case pursuant to registration of FIR No.27/2012 by Police Station Ram Munshi Bagh, Srinagar. The FIR was initially registered against the petitioner Ahsan Ahmad and Mohd. Saleem Khan, the then office bearers of the JKCA. The investigation was later transferred to the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI).
The court noted that the jurisdictional police, the CBI has not registered any case for commission of any scheduled offence and the enquiry by way of complaint before the CJM, Srinagar is also not in respect of any scheduled offence. “In the absence of there being any case registered for commission of scheduled offence or any case pending enquiry or trial in respect of scheduled offence, authorities under PMLA have no jurisdiction to register ECIR and launch prosecution for offence of money laundering under Sections 3/4 of PMLA. When there is no scheduled offence having been registered or pending enquiry or trial, there are no proceeds of crime and, thus, there is no offence of money laundering under Section 3 of the Act,” the Court held.
The court rejected the argument advanced by Additional Solicitor General of India that ED is not bound by the conclusion drawn by CBI and it can independently look into the material contained in charge sheet to bring home the conclusion of commission scheduled offence under PMLA and register a case under PMLA.
Allowing the petition, the court quashed the complaint, the charge-sheet and the charges framed by the designated Special Court, Srinagar under PMLA.
“With a view to maintaining harmony and to avoid contradictory stand by the two investigating agencies operating in their independent fields, it is necessary that the Enforcement Directorate respects the decision of the CBI unless it is varied or modified by a competent Court of criminal jurisdiction,” the Court said.
