Court Grants Interim Bail To M3M Promoters In Money Laundering Case

The Special Judge (PMLA), Panchkula, Haryana, on Friday granted interim bail to the promoters of M3M India Private Limited, namely Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, in relation to the ECIR registered based on the predicate offence registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, wherein there were allegations that illegal gratification was given to a Special Judge for seeking favourable orders.

Bansal on Friday appeared before the Special Court (PMLA), Panchkula in compliance of the summons issued by the court on February 20, 2024, directing their appearance.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, along with Advocate Siddharth Bhardwaj, appearing for the Bansals sought bail on the ground that the Charge-sheet against the Bansals were filed without arrest and that they have joined and cooperated during the investigation and shall not be taken into custody in terms of the law laid down by the apex court.

Special Public Prosecutor appearing for Enforcement Directorate vehemently opposed the submission of Advocate Aggarwal and submitted that the Bansals were arrested during the investigation. and they cannot take the plea that they were not arrested at the time of filing the chargesheet.

To the said objection of Enforcement Directorate, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal rebutted that though Bansals were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate however their arrest was declared illegal by the apex court and charge-sheet has also been filed, which in fact means that charge-sheet was filed without arrest.

Adv Aggarwal further apprised the court that, in a major setback to the Enforcement Directorate, Apex Court on Wednesday has also dismissed the review petition filed by the Enforcement directorate against its order declaring the arrest of promoters of M3M India Pvt. Ltd as illegal, as the apex court did not find any error in the order.

Bansal's Lawyer further submitted that the Public Prosecutor has no right to oppose the bail application at this stage and to buttress his arguments, he relied upon various judgements passed by apex court and other courts.

Advocate Aggarwal went on to argue that the Bansals are in the constructive custody of the court, that they can't even move without the directions of the court and that Enforcement directorate cannot fire from the shoulders of the court and seek arrest of the Bansal's at this stage.

The Special Public Prosecutor further submitted that prima facie there are grave allegations against the Bansal and that twin conditions as per Section 45 of PMLA should be satisfied.

Advocate Aggarwal vehemently rebutted the contention of the Special PP and submitted that at this stage no prima facie view needs to be seen as the same has to be seen at the charge framing stage and presently the Bansal's are here before this Court in compliance of the summons, which shows their bona- fide.

Special Public Prosecutor further opposed the bail application and submitted that the Bansal's should not even be granted interim bail as there is no provision under PMLA wherein the relief of interim bail is given.

To the said submission, Advocate Aggarwal mentioned that the said relief is not even provided in Code of Criminal Procedure still courts grant interim bail and subsequently relied upon an apex court judgement and submitted that the right to interim bail flows directly from Article 21 of the Constitution of India. 

(ANI)