Enforcement Directorate Vs Jitendra Prasad Verma (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court decided an application filed by the Directorate of Enforcement under Section 439(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (now corresponding to Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023) seeking cancellation of regular bail granted to Jitendra Prasad Verma by the Designated Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in ML Case No. 11 of 2025. The prosecution complaint alleged commission of an offence under Section 3 punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA. According to the Enforcement Directorate, the money laundering investigation arose from the Sahara Group matter involving alleged collection of public deposits, diversion of funds, and operation of parallel cash networks. The Directorate alleged that searches conducted under Section 17 of the PMLA at the accused’s residence resulted in recovery of physical and digital cash ledgers reflecting unrecorded transactions, evidence of cash movements across multiple cities, and records of an alleged commission received by the accused. The Directorate contended that the Special Court ignored this documentary material, failed to apply the mandatory twin conditions under Section 45(1) of the PMLA, overlooked the statutory presumption under Section 24, treated the accused’s status as a freelance land broker as exculpatory, and improperly relied upon the absence of direct oral evidence from depositors, the status of the predicate offence, and 124 days of custody while granting bail. It further submitted that the order was inherently perverse and that cancellation of bail did not require proof of post-release misconduct where the bail order itself ignored statutory mandates. The Directorate also relied upon Supreme Court decisions concerning the mandatory nature of Section 45, the independent character of money laundering proceedings, the treatment of economic offences, and the distinction between cancellation of bail on account of inherent perversity and cancellation based on subsequent misconduct.
