ANOOP BARTARIA & ETCversusDY. DIRECTOR ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE & ANR.

                         [2023] 3 S.C.R. 531                               531


                    ANOOP BARTARIA & ETC.                                  A
                                   v.
   DY. DIRECTOR ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE & ANR.
                 (SLP (Crl.) No. 2397-2398 of 2019)
                           APRIL 21, 2023                                  B
        [AJAY RASTOGI AND BELA M. TRIVEDI, JJ.]
       Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 – s.3 – Offence
of money laundering – Knowledge of dealing with the proceeds of
crime, if sine qua non for– Held: No – Knowledge of the accused
                                                                           C
that he was dealing with proceeds of crime is not a condition
precedent or sine qua non required to be shown by the prosecution
for lodging the complaint under the Act – Apart from having
knowledge, if a person who directly or indirectly attempts to indulge
or is actually involved in the process or activity connected with the
proceeds of crime, is also guilty of the offence of money laundering       D
– In the present case, serious allegations of money laundering are
alleged against both the petitioners in the prosecution complaint –
Sufficient material particulars have been narrated in the complaint
to substantiate the said allegations, prima facie showing the direct
involvement of the petitioners in the alleged offences of money
                                                                           E
laundering as defined in s.3, which require a trial to be conducted–
Further, power to quash a complaint should be exercised sparingly
and with circumspection, that too in the rarest of rare cases – High
Court rightly dismissed the petitions filed by the petitioners – Code
of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.482 – Penal Code, 1860 – ss.120B,
420, 467, 468, 471, 472, 474 – Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988          F
– s.13(2), 13(1)(d).
       Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 – s.45 – Sub-
section (1) substituted by the Act 20 of 2005 – Explanation to s.45
inserted by the Finance (No.2) Act, 2019 – Held: From the
substitution of sub-section (1) and insertion of the Explanation to        G
s.45, and non-amendment in the short title of s.45, it is clear that all
the offences under the PMLA were, are and shall be “cognizable
and non-bailable offences” notwithstanding anything to the contrary
contained in the CrPC – Accordingly, the officers authorized under
the PMLA Act are empowered to arrest an accused without warrant,
                                                                           H
                                  531
532            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                       [2023] 3 S.C.R.


A     subject to the fulfilment of conditions u/s.19, PMLA which deals
      with power to arrest and subject to the conditions enshrined u/s.45
      – In the instant case, the prosecution complaint was lodged by the
      authorized officer – Code of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
            Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 – Held: Money
B     laundering poses a serious threat to the financial system of the
      countries and to their integrity and sovereignty – Hence, any lenient
      view in dealing with such offences would be a travesty of justice.
            State of Haryana and Others v. Bhajan Lal and Others
            1992 Suppl. (1) SCC 335 : [1990] 3 Suppl. SCR 259 –
C           relied on.
            Nikesh Tarachand Shah vs. Union of India and Another
            (2018) 11 SCC 1 : [2017] 12 SCR 358; Pepsi Foods
            Ltd. and Another vs Special Judicial Magistrate and
            Others (1998) 5 SCC 749 : [1997] 5 Suppl. SCR 12 –
            referred to.
D
                             Case Law Reference
      [2017] 12 SCR 358                referred to             Para 12
      [1997] 5 Suppl. SCR 12           referred to             Para 14

E     [1990] 3 Suppl. SCR 259          relied on               Para 15
             CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Special Leave
      Petition (Crl.) Nos. 2397-2398 of 2019.
            From the Judgment and Order dated 21.02.2019 of the High Court
      of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jaipur in SBCRW Nos. 704 and 757 of
F     2018.
            Swadeep Hora, Mahesh Agarwal, Ankur Saigal, Anshuman
      Srivastava, Anirudh Bhatia, E. C. Agrawala, Advs. for the Petitioners.
            Arkaj Kumar, Padmesh Mishra, Annam Venkatesh, Zoheb
      Hussain, Sabarish Subramanian, Mrs. Shardha Deshmukh, Kanu Agarwal,
G     Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Advs. for the Respondents.
            The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
            BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.
          1. The petitioners by way of these petitions have challenged the
H     common judgment and order dated 21.02.2019 passed by the High Court
       ANOOP BARTARIA & ETC. v. DY. DIRECTOR                                  533
   ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

of Judicature for Rajasthan, Benchat Jaipur, in S.B. Criminal Writ Petition   A
No. 704 of 2018 and S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 757 of 2018, whereby
the High Court has dismissed both the petitions imposing cost of Rs.
50,000/-.
       2. The S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 704 of 2018 was filed by
the petitioner – Anoop Bartaria, Director of World Trade Park Ltd.            B
seeking a prayer to quash ECIR No.JPZO/01/2016 registered by the
Jaipur Zonal Office of Enforcement Directorate, with further prayer
against the respondents not to file any criminal complaint against the
petitioner and not to take any coercive steps against the petitioner in
respect of the said ECIR. The S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 757 of
2018 was filed by the petitioner – Anoop Bartaria, the Director, World        C
Trade Park Ltd., and by M/s World Trade Park Ltd, a company registered
under the Companies Act, 1956, seeking a prayer to quash and set aside
the prosecution complaint in ECIR No.JPZO/01/2016.
       3. As per the case of the petitioners, the petitioner-Anoop Bartaria
is a leading and an awarded engineer/architect having an expertise in         D
providing structural, architectural and design consultancy services and
is also the Chairman and Managing Director of the World Trade Park
Ltd., (Erstwhile M/s R.F. Properties & Trading Ltd.) a company
registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The World Trade Park is
one of the most sought-after real estate commercial properties situated       E
at JLN Marg, Jaipur. The World Trade Park Company is engaged in the
business of selling and leasing commercial spaces to various interested
buyers/purchasers.
       4. One Mr. Bharat Bomb and his associates approached the
petitioners for the purchase of commercial units in the said World Trade      F
Park and booked certain units. Initially the commercial units were booked
in the name of Raj Darbar Material Trading Pvt. Ltd. by the said Bharat
Bomb, and the amounts thereof in aggregate Rs. 74.02 crores were paid
to the petitioners through demand draft and/or RTGS. Further certain
amounts totaling Rs. 1.4 crores were received by the petitioner-Anoop
Bartaria from Bharat Bomb towards architectural designing and                 G
consultancy services towards a real estate project being brought about
by Mr. Bomb in Udaipur. However, subsequently Mr. Bomb and his
associates, asked the petitioners to register the units in the name of new
entities, and therefore the petitioners returned the amount back deposited
by M/s. Raj Darbar Material Trading Pvt. Ltd. Thereafter in the year          H
534            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2023] 3 S.C.R.


A     2015, 34 commercial spaces were sold by the petitioners in favour of
      Mr. Bharat and his associates by executing 34 registered sale deeds.
      According to the petitioners, the amounts were received through demand
      drafts and/or RTGS, and all legal formalities required for registration
      were also followed in due course. The possession of the said units was
      also handed over to the respective entities/persons as instructed by Mr.
B
      Bomb.
            5. The petitioners had taken loan/financial assistance from IDBI
      Bank and DHFL, as also from UCO Bank, mortgaging the units/spaces
      of World Trade Park with the said banks. On 04.10.2014, the petitioners
C     had obtained NOC from UCO Bank for the release of a particular
      immovable property admeasuring 23837 sq.ft. and on 23.12.2014 had
      obtained NOC from IDBI Bank, Jaipur for transfer of a particular units
      subject to the compliance of the conditions mentioned therein. Similar,
      NOC for the sale of area was also issued by DHFL, Mumbai on
      24.03.2015 for transfer of units admeasuring 11538 sq.ft.
D
            6. As per the further case of the petitioners, the petitioner-Anoop
      Bartaria had purchased three offices namely office nos. 407, 408 and
      409 in the World Trade Park in his personal capacity and had paid the
      amount through his current account which had no connection with Mr.
      Bharat Bomb or his associates.
E
             7. An FIR being No. RCBD1/2016/E/0002 came to be registered
      by CBI,BS&FC, New Delhi, on 07.03.2016 against the said Bharat Bomb,
      his associates and the officials of three branches of the Syndicate Bank
      namely:- (1) Bapu Bazar, Udaipur (2) Malviya Nagar, Jaipur and (3) MI
      Road, Jaipur and certain other persons for the offences under the 120B,
F     420, 467, 468, 471, 472 and 474 of IPC and Section 13(2) read with
      13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. It was alleged inter
      alia in the said FIR that during 2011-2015, to defraud the bank, the
      accused Bharat Bomb and his associates, in collusion with the officials
      of Syndicate Bank had misused the KYC documents of his clients/
G     employees/family members as well as the existing customers of the
      Syndicate Bank to launder the money to the tune of about more than
      18,000 crores which resulted in siphoning off Rs. 1055.79 crores. On
      14.06.2016, the CBI, BS&FC filed charge-sheet before the Designated
      CBI Court, Jaipur against Mr. Bharat Bomb and some of the officers of
      the Syndicate Bank for the said offences.
H
        ANOOP BARTARIA & ETC. v. DY. DIRECTOR                                   535
    ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

       8. Since some of the offences registered by the CBI in the said          A
FIR were scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering
Act, 2002 (PMLA), the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) Jaipur, initiated
investigation for the offence of money laundering by registering an
Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on 11.07.2016.
       9. During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the          B
petitioner Anoop Bartaria, his companies M/s World Trade Park Ltd.
and M/s Sincere Infrastructure Private Ltd. had received more than Rs.
160 crores defrauded funds from the accounts of fictitious firms/
companies created and operated by Bharat Bomb namely M/s B.K.
Builders, M/s Raj Darbar Material Trading Pvt. Ltd., M/s Raj Darbar
Material Trading LLP, Jai Hanuman Construction & M/s Omnia                      C
Entertainment and Hospitality etc.
       10. The petitioner-Anoop Bartaria therefore filed the writ petition
being S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 704 of 2018 before the High Court,
seeking prayer to quash the said ECIR dated 11.07.2016. However,
pending the said petition, the Prosecution complaint based on the said          D
ECIR came to be filed against several persons including the present
petitioners on 17.07.2018. The petitioners therefore filed S.B. Criminal
Writ Petition No. 757 of 2018 seeking prayer to quash the said
Prosecution complaint. Both the writ petitions came to be dismissed
with cost of Rs. 50,000/- by the High Court vide the impugned order.
                                                                                E
       11. The bone of contention raised by the learned counsel Mr.
Swadeep Hora for the petitioners is that the petitioners were neither
named in the FIR registered by the CBI against the officers of the
Syndicate Bank and Mr. Bharat Bomb nor they were named in the
subsequent ECIR registered by the ED, however, the ED after the
investigation of the said ECIR has filed the Prosecution complaint falsely      F
involving the petitioners in the same. According to him, the sine qua non
and the essential ingredient for the offence of money laundering as defined
in Section 3 read with Section 4 of the PMLA is that the person must be
knowingly or actually involved in any process or activity connected with
the proceeds of crime as defined under Section 2(1)(u) of the said Act          G
and, therefore, unless the said essential ingredient of knowledge is met
out, no complaint or proceedings under the said Act could be initiated. In
the instant case, the said pre-requisite for filing the complaint against the
petitioners being missing, the complaint was not tenable in the eye of
law, and that the continuation of any proceedings against the petitioners
under the PMLA would be an abuse of process of law.                             H
536               SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2023] 3 S.C.R.


A            12. Elaborating his submissions on the allegations made against
      the petitioners, Mr. Hora submitted that the petitioners had only “buyer-
      seller” relationship with Mr. Bharat Bomb and his associates, and that
      the petitioners had no knowledge that the money received by them was
      the proceeds of crime. In this regard Mr. Hora has placed reliance on
      Nikesh Tarachand Shah Vs. Union of India and Another 1. He further
B
      submitted that though initially Mr. Bharat Bomb had requested the
      petitioners to book certain units in the name of M/s Raj Darbar Material
      Trading Pvt. Ltd., subsequently he had requested to execute sale deeds
      in the name of various associated entities, and therefore 34 separate
      registered sale deeds were executed by the petitioners, and respective
C     amounts were received separately from each of the entity through
      demand drafts or RTGS, after refunding the amount received from M/s.
      Raj Darbar Material Trading Pvt. Ltd. In the said transactions, the
      petitioners had received the sale consideration of INR 76.72 crores and
      not INR 150 crores as alleged.
D             13. Mr. Hora further submitted that the petitioners had sold the
      units after obtaining valid NOCs from UCO Bank, IDBI AND DHFL
      and none of the banks has raised any grievance against the petitioners,
      as all the dues were cleared in respect of the units mentioned therein by
      the petitioners before obtaining NOCs from the said banks. He further
E     submitted that the petitioner-Anoop Bartaria being a renowned architect
      had provided architectural services to Mr. Bharat Bomb for his Royal
      Raj Villas project at Udaipur and the amount of fees received from Mr.
      Bomb was also reflected in the income tax and service tax returns of
      the petitioners.
F            14. According to Mr. Hora, the alleged offences under the PMLA
      are not cognizable offences and the entire investigation carried out by
      the ED was without any authority of law. Lastly, he submitted that the
      petitioners who are absolutely unconnected to Mr. Bharat Bomb are
      suffering the business loss and the credibility and therefore the complaint
G     deserves to be quashed in view of the judgment of this Court in case of
      Pepsi Foods Ltd. and Another vs Special Judicial Magistrate and
      Others 2.


      1
          (2018) 11 SCC 1
      2
H         (1998) 5 SCC 749
          ANOOP BARTARIA & ETC. v. DY. DIRECTOR                              537
      ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

        15. Per contra, the learned Additional Solicitor General appearing   A
for the respondents vehemently submitted that the petitioners having
filed frivolous petitions before the High Court, the same were dismissed
by the High Court with cost, which order being just and proper should
not be interfered with by this Court. Relying upon the State of Haryana
and Others. vs. Bhajan Lal and Others3 he submitted that the power
                                                                             B
of quashing a complaint can only be exercised in rarest of rare case
where allegations taken on face value do not prima facie constitute any
offence. In the instant case, there are specific allegations of money
laundering against the petitioners which had surfaced during the course
of investigation carried out by the authorized officer under the PMLA,
which prima facie constitute offence against the petitioners under the       C
said Act.
       16. Placing reliance on the Prosecution complaint filed by the
Directorate of Enforcement, the learned ASG pointed out that the
petitioner-Anoop Bartaria had availed fraudulent loan of Rs. 4.80 crores
from the Syndicate Bank under the guise of purchasing three offices in       D
his name in the World Trade Park, for which the Syndicate Bank had
lodged FIR with CBI on 23.03.2017. It was also revealed that the
instalment of the said term loan to the extent of 1.50 crores were being
paid by getting money from the fictitious firms controlled by Mr. Bharat
Bomb and his associates. He also pointed out that the said current bank
account opened by the petitioner-Anoop Bartaria with Syndicate bank          E
on 30.09.2014 was exclusively operated for receiving tainted money
from Mr. Bharat Bomb and no other transactions had taken place in the
said account. The said account was also not declared in ITR of Anoop
Bartaria filed for the assessment year 2015-16.
       17. He submitted that the petitioner-Anoop Bartaria and his           F
company had availed the loans for the project of World Trade Park from
IDBI Bank/DHFL and UCO Bank, by mortgaging the units of the said
project to the said banks. In line with terms of sanction, the World Trade
Park Ltd. had opened an escrow account with IDBI Bank, in which all
sale proceeds were to be deposited in that account only. However, Mr.        G
Bartaria did not deposit any amount in the said escrow account and
facilitated Mr. Bharat Bomb and his associates in parking the tainted
money by opening the account in the Syndicate bank. In the request
letters to IDBI for issuing NOC in respect of office nos. 407, 408 and
3
    1992 Suppl. (1) SCC 335                                                  H
538            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2023] 3 S.C.R.


A     409, the name of the customer shown was M/s Raj Darbar Material
      Ltd. showing the status of the properties as unsold.
             18. Learned ASG has also placed reliance on the counter affidavit
      to buttress his submissions that the petitioner- Anoop Bartaria, this
      company M/s. World Trade Park Ltd., earlier named as M/s. R.F Trading
B     and Properties, and M/s. Sincere Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. had received
      more than 160 crores of defrauded fund since October 2013 till unearthing
      of the fraud, from the accounts of fictitious firms/companies created
      and operated by Bharat Bomb and his associates.
            19. The learned ASG has placed heavy reliance on the prosecution
C     complaint filed by the ED, more particularly on para nos. 10.5 and 10.8
      to show as to how the petitioner-Anoop Bartaria was complicit in the
      crime and sharing the fruit of the crime with Bharat Bomb; and as to
      how he was directly involved in the activity connected with proceeds of
      crime including generation, acquisition and use of proceeds of crime by
      commission of scheduled offence.
D
              20. Pressing into service the provisions contained in Section 45
      read with the explanation to the said provision inserted by the Finance
      (No.2) Act, 2019, he submitted that the offences under the PMLA are
      “cognizable and non-bailable”. Learned ASG lastly submitted that because
      of the order passed by this Court on 25.03.2019 directing the respondents
E     not to take coercive action against the petitioners, the proceedings before
      the competent Court are stayed and the investigations have also come
      to stand still, which has caused great prejudice to the case filed by the
      ED under the PMLA.
             21. Now, adverting to the first and foremost contention raised as
F     to whether the offences of money laundering under PMLA are cognizable
      or not, it may be noted that sub-section (1) of Section 45 pertaining to
      the offences was amended by Act 20 of 2005. Sub-section 1 of Section
      45 prior to amendment read as under:
            “Section 45- Offences to be cognizable and non-bailable-
G           (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal
            Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974),
            (a) Every offence punishable under this Act shall be cognizable;
            (b) No person accused of an offence punishable for a term of
            imprisonment of more than three years under Part A of the
H           Schedule shall be released on bail or on his own bond unless.”
       ANOOP BARTARIA & ETC. v. DY. DIRECTOR                                 539
   ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

      22. Subsequently, sub-section (1) was substituted by the Act 20        A
of 2005 w.e.f. 1.7.2005.
      “(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…”                                                               B

      23. It may be noted that for removal of doubts, the Explanation to
Section 45 was inserted by the Finance (No.2) Act, 2019w.e.f. 1.8.2019
which reads as under:
      “Explanation- For the removal of doubts, it is clarified that the      C
      expression “Offences to be cognizable and non-bailable” shall
      mean and shall be deemed to have always meant that all the
      offences under this Act shall be cognizable offences and non-
      bailable offences notwithstanding anything to the contrary
      contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974),
      and accordingly the officers authorized under this Act are             D
      empowered to arrest an accused without warrant, subject to the
      fulfilment of conditions under Section 19 and subject to the
      conditions enshrined under this Section”.
        24. From the afore-stated substitution of sub-section (1) and
                                                                             E
insertion of the Explanation to Section 45, and non-amendment in the
short title of Section 45 – “offences to be cognizable and non-bailable”,
there remains no shadow of doubt that all the offences under the PMLA
were, are and shall be “cognizable and non-bailable offences”
notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Code of Criminal
Procedure Code, 1973. Accordingly, the officers authorized under the         F
PMLA Act are empowered to arrest an accused without warrant, subject
to the fulfilment of conditions under Section 19 which deals with power
to arrest and subject to the conditions enshrined under Section 45. The
Prosecution complaint no.12/2018 in ECIR No.JPZO/01/2016 having
been lodged by the authorized officer competent to file the complaint
                                                                             G
under Section 45 of the Act read with order dated 11.11.2014 issued by
the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue,
New Delhi, as stated in the complaint itself, the Court does not find any
substance in the submissions made by Mr. Hora that the Prosecution
complaint was not lodged by the authorized officer.
                                                                             H
540            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2023] 3 S.C.R.


A            25. The submissions by Mr. Hora, learned counsel for the
      petitioners that the knowledge of the petitioners that they were dealing
      with the proceeds of crime was sine qua non and essential ingredient
      for the offence of money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the
      PMLA, and that in the instant case, in absence of any material to show
      that the petitioners had the knowledge that they were dealing with the
B
      proceeds of crime committed by Bharat Bomb and his associates,
      continuation of the proceedings under the PMLA against the petitioners
      would be an abuse of process of law, have also no legs to stand. It may
      be noted that offence of money laundering has been defined in Section 3
      of the PMLA, which reads as under:
C
            “3. Offence of money-laundering. —Whosoever directly or
            indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is
            a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected
            [proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession,
            acquisition or use and projecting or claiming] it as untainted
D           property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering.
            [Explanation. —For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified
            that, —
            (i) a person shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering if such
            person is found to have directly or indirectly attempted to indulge
E           or knowingly assisted or knowingly is a party or is actually involved
            in one or more of the following processes or activities connected
            with proceeds of crime, namely: —
            (a) concealment; or
F           (b) possession; or
            (c) acquisition; or
            (d) use; or
            (e) projecting as untainted property; or
G           (f) claiming as untainted property,
            in any manner whatsoever;
            (ii) the process or activity connected with proceeds of crime is a
            continuing activity and continues till such time a person is directly
            or indirectly enjoying the proceeds of crime by its concealment or
H
       ANOOP BARTARIA & ETC. v. DY. DIRECTOR                                   541
   ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

      possession or acquisition or use or projecting it as untainted           A
      property or claiming it as untainted property in any manner
      whatsoever.]”
       26. Section 2(u) defines what is “proceeds of crime” and Section
2(y) defines what is “Scheduled offence”. As discernable from the record,
the Prosecution complaint in ECIR was lodged against the petitioners           B
and others under the PMLA by the ED, pursuant to the investigation
carried out by the CBI in the FIR No. RCBD1/2016/E/0002 dated
07.03.2016 and the charge-sheet dated 14.06.2016 filed by the CBI
against Bharat Bomb and others for the offences under Sections 120B,
420, 467, 468, 471, 472 and 474 of IPC and Section 13(2) read with
                                                                               C
Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 at the
Designated CBI Court at Jaipur. All the said offences are scheduled
offences within the meaning of Section 2(y) of the said Act. The
allegations against the petitioner no.1-Anoop Bartaria (Accused No.5)
as the Chairman and Managing Director of M/s. World Trade Park Ltd.
and the petitioner no.2- World Trade Park Ltd. (accused No.8) are stated       D
in detail in para 10.5 and 10.8 respectively in the Prosecution complaint.
The Court at this juncture is not required to go into the merits of the said
allegations. Suffice it to say that serious allegations of money laundering
are alleged against both the petitioners in the Prosecution complaint and
sufficient material particulars have been narrated in the said complaint
                                                                               E
to substantiate the said allegations, which prima facie show the direct
involvement of the petitioners in the alleged offences of money laundering
as defined in Section 3 of the said PMLA.
       27. Having regard to the definition contained in Section 3, it would
be a folly to hold that the knowledge of the accused that he was dealing
                                                                               F
with the proceeds of crime, would be a condition precedent or sine qua
non required to be shown by the prosecution for lodging the complaint
under the said Act. As the definition itself suggests whosoever directly
or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a
party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with
the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition       G
or use and projecting or claiming it as untainted property shall be guilty
of offence of money-laundering. Hence, apart from having knowledge,
if a person who directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or is actually
involved in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime,
is also guilty of the offence of money laundering. In the instant case, the
                                                                               H
542            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2023] 3 S.C.R.


A     direct involvement of the petitioners in the activities connected with the
      proceeds of crime has been alleged, along with the material narrated in
      the complaint which would require a trial to be conducted by the competent
      court.
             28. It is axiomatic that the power to quash complaint under Section
B     482 of Cr.P.C. should be exercised very sparingly and with circumspection,
      and that too in the rarest of rare cases. In State of Haryana and Others
      vs. Bhajan Lal and Others (supra), this Court has laid down certain
      guidelines as to when the powers under Section 482 could be exercised
      either to prevent abuse the process of any court or otherwise to secure
      ends of justice.
C
            “102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant
            provisions of the Code under Chapter XIV and of the principles
            of law enunciated by this Court in a series of decisions relating to
            the exercise of the extraordinary power under Article 226 or the
            inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code which we have
D           extracted and reproduced above, we give the following categories
            of cases by way of illustration wherein such power could be
            exercised either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or
            otherwise to secure the ends of justice, though it may not be possible
            to lay down any precise, clearly defined and sufficiently
E           channelised and inflexible guidelines or rigid formulae and to give
            an exhaustive list of myriad kinds of cases wherein such power
            should be exercised.
                (1) Where the allegations made in the first information report
                or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and
F               accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute any
                offence or make out a case against the accused.
                (2) Where the allegations in the first information report and other
                materials, if any, accompanying the FIR do not disclose a
                cognizable offence, justifying an investigation by police officers
G               under Section 156(1) of the Code except under an order of a
                Magistrate within the purview of Section 155(2) of the Code.
                (3) Where the uncontroverted allegations made in the FIR or
                complaint and the evidence collected in support of the same
                do not disclose the commission of any offence and make out a
                case against the accused.
H
       ANOOP BARTARIA & ETC. v. DY. DIRECTOR                                   543
   ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

          (4) Where, the allegations in the FIR do not constitute a            A
          cognizable offence but constitute only a non-cognizable offence,
          no investigation is permitted by a police officer without an order
          of a Magistrate as contemplated under Section 155(2) of the
          Code.
          (5) Where the allegations made in the FIR or complaint are so        B
          absurd and inherently improbable on the basis of which no
          prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there is
          sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused.
          (6) Where there is an express legal bar engrafted in any of the
          provisions of the Code or the concerned Act (under which a           C
          criminal proceeding is instituted) to the institution and
          continuance of the proceedings and/or where there is a specific
          provision in the Code or the concerned Act, providing efficacious
          redress for the grievance of the aggrieved party.
          (7) Where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with          D
          mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted
          with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused
          and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge.”
       29. The case of the petitioners does not fall under any of the
above categories. The petitioners have also failed to make out any case        E
of abuse of process of the court at the instance of the respondent
authorities. There being enough material to show prima facie involvement
of the petitioners in the alleged offence of money laundering, as
contemplated under the PMLA the High Court had rightly dismissed the
petitions filed by the petitioners. As stated in the statement of objects
and reasons of the Act, money laundering poses a serious threat not only       F
to the financial systems of the countries but also to their integrity and
sovereignty. Hence any lenient view in dealing with such offences would
be a travesty of justice.
        30. Before parting, it may be noted that the petitioners in the SLPs
while praying for the main relief of quashing the impugned judgment and        G
order dated 21.02.2019 passed by the High Court, had sought interim
relief seeking stay of the entire proceedings and the prosecution complaint
no. 12/2018 in ECIR No.JPZO/01/2016 pending before the Special Judge
(PMLA cases) Jaipur, without producing the said complaint along with
the SLP paper books. The SLPs appear to have been filed on 8th March,
                                                                               H
544             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2023] 3 S.C.R.


A     2019 declaring that all the defects have been cured, and thereafter on
      25.03.2019, by way of an application seeking permission to file additional
      documents, the petitioners had produced the said Prosecution complaint
      no.12/2018 on record. Apart from the fact that after filing of the SLPs,
      no documents could have been filed without the permission of the Court,
      which in the instant case does not appear to have been sought for by the
B
      petitioners nor granted by the Court, the very practice of not filing the
      essential and relevant documents, more particularly, the documents in
      respect of which a relief is sought in the SLPs, is strongly deprecated. It
      may be noted that non-production of the relevant documents especially
      the documents in respect of which the relief is sought, along with the
C     SLPs could be the sole ground for rejection of the SLPs at the outset.
             31. The Registry is also directed to verify at the time of registration
      of SLPs as to whether all the relevant documents, more particularly, the
      documents in respect of which the relief is sought, have been produced
      at the first instance by the petitioners along with the SLPs or not.
D            32. In that view of the matter, the petitions are dismissed. The
      interim relief granted earlier stands vacated forthwith. It is needless to
      say that the observations made against the petitioners in this order are
      only prima facie and the trial court shall decide the case on merits without
      being influenced by the said observations.
E             33. Learned counsel for the respondents, on instructions, informs
      this Court that since the investigation is over and charge-sheet has been
      filed, no custodial interrogation of the petitioner is required.
            34. The E.D shall be at liberty to proceed further with the
      Prosecution complaint in accordance with law.
F
            35. Copy of this judgment be sent to the Secretary General and
      the Registrar (J-I) for doing the needful.

      Divya Pandey                                                Petitions dismissed.
      (Assisted by : Bhavyata Kapoor, LCRA)
G




H