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New Delhi: A new order has been issued in ED regarding Section 61 of the Indian Justice Code i.e. IPC 120B. Top ED officials have instructed the investigating officers not to unnecessarily use criminal conspiracy to register money laundering cases. Actually, ED is a secondary agency which cannot take up any investigation on its own. ED files its ECIR on the basis of FIRs of other agencies.
According to sources, ED Director Rahul Naveen said in his order that PMLA i.e. Prevention of Money Laundering Act itself is quite broad. There are about 150 clauses in it. Therefore, instructions have been given to use these clauses instead of BNS 61.
Why did the ED director give such an order?
In recent times, PMLA cases have not been able to survive in courts due to the criminal conspiracy involved. For example, in the Pavana Dibber judgment in November 2023, the Supreme Court had said that 120B is not a stand-alone offense and it is not sufficient to invoke PMLA. In March 2024, the Supreme Court had quashed the ED’s PMLA case against Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar because the ED’s PMLA case was based on the 2018 IT findings. ED had registered a PMLA case by adding section 120B of IPC. DK Shivakumar was arrested in September 2019. However, ED had filed the charge sheet in 2019 itself.
DK Shivakumar got relief in the 2019 ED case. The Supreme Court rejected his plea to quash the CBI corruption case, which stemmed from the 2019 ED findings. According to sources, ED has registered another money laundering case in this matter which is related to CBI. FIR was registered in 2020.
This case was canceled
Similarly in April 2024, the Supreme Court quashed the PMLA case against Anil Tuteja and his son Yash Tuteja, saying there were no “proceeds of crime” in the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam. However, the ED filed a fresh FIR in Chhattisgarh and later re-arrested Tuteja. Chhattisgarh ACB was interrogating Tuteja when ED summoned him and arrested him. In both these cases, ED had used Section 61 of BNS along with PMLA, but in the court, ED could not prove the allegation of criminal conspiracy against them.
ED got a setback in Arvind Kejriwal case
Similarly, in the recent Delhi Excise scam, BNS 61 (formerly 120B) was used on most of the accused including former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, but at the time of opposition to the bail, the investigating agency could not prove it and the Excise Almost all the accused who were jailed in the scam got bail from the Supreme Court.
If sources are to be believed, if they find any additional evidence during the search, the ED is also sharing the information with the state police under Section 66(2) of the PMLA. The state police can then register an FIR and the ED can later register a money laundering case, meaning now the ED is investigating the cases in complete coordination with other agencies.
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