Delhi HC refuses to quash money laundering case against Raghav Bahl
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to quash an Enforcement Directorate money laundering case against media baron Raghav Bahl, saying the plea was "premature".
The court also rejected Bahl's challenge to the Look Out Circular (LOC) against him, observing the issue of generation of "proceeds of crime" was being investigated.
The court, however, said the petitioner's liberty to travel abroad in genuine circumstances cannot be curtailed and clarified his plea seeking permission to undertake such travel will be decided by the courts concerned whenever filed.
The ED case against the petitioner arises from a complaint by the Income Tax (IT) Department and concerns the alleged laundering of funds to purchase an alleged undisclosed asset in London.
"I am of the view that the petition itself is premature There are allegations in the complaint regarding tax evasion. The allegations are yet to reach the stage of trial. Whether there is generation of proceeds of crime or not is being investigated. For aforesaid reasons, petition for relief of quashing the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) is premature and is rejected," said Justice Jasmeet Singh.
"The allegations against the petitioner are with regard to compromising the economic interest of India. The quashing of LOC at this stage again will be premature," stated the judge.
The court noted that the Supreme Court has said in a case that mere recording of ECIR does not make a person an accused and that petitioner has undertaken to join the investigation.
The petitioner's Counsel sought to quash the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) and LOC on the ground that there were no proceeds of crime or illegal money in the case and that there could also be no allegations of tax evasion.
TheED opposed the plea and submitted that there were allegations of violation of Black Money Act and attempt to evade tax.
It was also stated that the ECIR cannot be quashed at the stage of summons and that the Allahabad High Court has ruled that there was a prima facie to proceed against the petitioner under the black money law and an appeal against the decision has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
The I-T Department had earlier initiated proceedings against the petitioner under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act of 2015 for alleged irregularities in the returns filed for the assessment year (AY) 2018-2019.
In his petition, Raghav Bahl had claimed that since he has "done no wrong", the continuation of the process of inquiry under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002 "without having any subsisting basis in fact or law" has a "deleterious effect" on his life, business, and reputation.
On December 3, 2021, the high court had sought response from ED on Bahl's petition to quash a money laundering case against him but refused to grant an interim relief of no coercive action.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
