Bombay High Court dismisses plea by former Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul to quash ED summons in money laundering case

The Bombay High Court has rejected the petition filed by Shiv Sena leader and former Member of Parliament Anandrao Adsul seeking quashing of the proceedings initiated against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case (Anandrao Vithoba Adsul v. Enforcement Directorate)..A Bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and SV Kotwal said that Adsul can take recourse to the statutory remedy of anticipatory bail and there is no ground to interfere with the proceedings under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)."As regards the protection from arrest is concerned, the petitioner has a remedy under the CrPC. In these circumstances, the writ petition is rejected," the Court ordered.The Court also said that it will refrain from making any observations on the merits of the plea, so that it does not prejudice other remedies available to Adsul."Considering that the Petitioner has a statutory remedy under section 438 of CrPC and any observation by us on the merits of the matter against the petitioner will prejudice the petitioner in case the petitioner approaches the competent court for anticipatory bail; we refrain from elaborating the same in this order," the Court said.However, the Bench did observe that “it cannot be said that there is no material against the petitioner (Adsul)”..Adsul had challenged proceedings initiated by ED in connection with the alleged ₹980 crore fraud at the City Co-operative Bank.Interestingly, it was based on Adsul’s complaint that the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police had registered a case for offences of criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy under Indian Penal Code for alleged irregularities in the loan disbursement by City Co-operative Bank.Later, ED issued three summons to Adsul to appear in person or through representative in connection with the case but Adsul did not respond to all the summons.Apprehending coercive action, Adsul moved the High Court..Adsul prayed for the following reliefs:To provide copies of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR);For quashing ECIRs;For quashing summons;Restrain ED from issuing further summons andNot taking any coercive action pursuant to ECIRAdsul also prayed for interim relief of no-coercive steps which was rejected by the High Court on October 1, 2021. .Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud appearing for Adsul, contended that Adsul was the one who had filed the complaint and the only reason ED was not taking any action against him was because he was hospitalised, and once discharged will be arrested..Chandrachud had three main submissions towards the prayers.That the proceedings before the ED had been initiated based on complaint of Ravi Rana, husband of Navneet Kaur BJP MP.On petitions including one by Adsul, the Bombay High Court had cancelled and confiscated Rana's caste certificate on the ground that it was obtained by "systemic fraud" which was eventually stayed by the Supreme Court.That on the ground of mala fides and malice by ED, the proceedings ought to be quashed.That a copy of ECIR be given to Adsul to enable him to take appropriate recourse to legal remedies. The summons also did not supply proper details as to why Adsul was called..Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh representing ED, opposed the plea stating there were other statutory remedies available and this did not warrant exercising the extraordinary jurisdiction of the Court.He further showed the Court files containing the statements recorded in furtherance of Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR)..The Court refused to accept Adsul's contention noting that no officer who allegedly acted under direction of Rana, had been named in the petition.“Merely by hinting that the husband of Navneet Kaur Rana belongs to the ruling dispensation, the requirement of establishing malafides as a legal ground is not satisfied,” the Court said.With this conclusion, the court did not find any other ground to intervene and stall proceedings under PMLA..[Read Order]