Bombay High Court: In a petition filed by K.S. Chamankar Enterprises and its partners (‘petitioners’) seeking to set aside the criminal proceedings in the Maharashtra Sadan money laundering case, pending against them, the Division Bench of A. S. Gadkari* and Rajesh S. Patil, JJ., opined that since the petitioners had been discharged of the predicate offence by the Court of competent jurisdiction therefore, money laundering case against them cannot be continued. Hence, the Court quashed and set aside the charge-sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the ongoing money laundering case proceedings, against the petitioners.
Background
An FIR was registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (‘ACB’), in 2015 against the petitioners that sought probe over alleged irregularities in granting of contract of over Rs 100 crore for three projects in 2006. The contracts in question awarded to the petitioners pertained to construction of a state guest house in Malabar Hill, Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and a new Regional Transport Office building in Andheri. Based on ACB probe, ED registered separate money-laundering case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The petitioners were discharged by the Sessions Court vide order dated 31-7-2021, from the predicate offence i.e. for which the FIR was registered by the ACB. The Sessions Court had recorded a categorical finding, that the petitioners had constructed the buildings as per the provisions of the contract. The order also mentioned that there was no material on record against the petitioners.
Since the petitioners were discharged of the predicate offence, they filed petition before the present Court to quash the criminal proceedings of money laundering, initiated against them by the ED.
Analysis, Law and Decision
The Court observed that it was an admitted fact that the order of the Sessions Court had attained finality wherein the petitioners were discharged of all the offences probed by ACB. Further, the Court referred to the case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India, (2023) 12 SCC 1, wherein, the Supreme Court clarified that if a person was finally discharged or acquitted of the criminal case or any scheduled offence against him is quashed by the Court of competent jurisdiction, then there can be no offence of money laundering against him.
Thus, the Court opined that the conclusion enumerated by the Supreme Court in the abovementioned case squarely applied to the instant case. Accordingly, the Court held that since the petitioners had been discharged of the predicate offence by the Court of competent jurisdiction, the PLMA case cannot be continued against the petitioners. Therefore, the Court quashed and set aside the charge-sheet filed in the money laundering case and the ongoing criminal proceedings, against the petitioners.
[Krishna Shantaram Chamankar v. Union of India, W.P. No. 3400 of 2025, decided on 16-9-2025]
*Judgement authored by- Justice A. S. Gadkari
With inputs from: Press
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Advocate for the Petitioners- Shreeyash Lalit (Through V.C.), Shweta R. Rathod i/b Elixir Legal Services
Advocate for the Respondents- M.M. Deshmukh, APP; Manisha Jagtap, Advocate
