Case Law Details
Manturi Shashi Kumar Vs Director (Telangana High Court)
Facts in the present appeal lie within a narrow As already noted above, appellant No.1 was an accused in the criminal case for offences which are considered as predicate offences under PMLA. In view thereof, a case was registered under PMLA following which the properties mentioned above were provisionally attached. Subsequently, the provisional attachment was confirmed by the adjudicating authority whereafter complaint was lodged before the designated court based on which S.C.No.342 of 2018 has been registered.
In the meanwhile, in view of the settlement arrived at between the de facto complainant and appellant No.1, the criminal court referred the matter to Lok Adalat and when the matter was settled in Lok Adalat, the criminal court discharged appellant No.1 vide order dated 20.03.20 18 leading to closure of the criminal case as well. It was thereafter that appellants had moved the respondents for release of the attached properties. Finding no response, the related writ petition came to be filed. Learned Single Judge took the view that the criminal case i.e., C.C.No.319 of 2010 has ended in acquittal of appellant No.1 by way of compromise and not on merit. Therefore, he declined to invoke the writ jurisdiction and relegated the appellants to the forum of the designated court for release of the attached property by filing application under Rule 3-A of the Prevention of Money Laundering (Restoration of Property) Rules, 2016.
Section 320 Cr.P.C deals with compounding of As per sub-section (1), the offences punishable under various sections of IPC specified in the table under the said sub-section may be compounded by the persons mentioned therein. As per sub-section (2), the offences punishable under various sections of IPC specified in the table mentioned therein may, with the permission of the court before which any prosecution for such offence is pending, be compounded by the persons mentioned in the table.
There is no dispute that the sections under which appellant No.1 was prosecuted are compoundable under Section 320 Cr.P.C. Sub-section (8) thereof clearly says that composition of an offence under Section 320 Cr.P.C shall have the effect of an acquittal of the accused with whom the offence has been compounded. Therefore, when the criminal case i.e., C.C.No.319 of 2010 was closed by the criminal court upon being compounded through the medium of Lok Adalat, it had the effect of acquittal of appellant No.1.
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