Shrradha Sidhwani Vs Deputy Director Directorate of Enforcement (Appellate Tribunal Under Safema At New Delhi)
Pre-Offence Land Can Be Attached as Value-Equivalent – Inherited Property Not Immune from PMLA Action- Civil Title Dispute No Bar – Gujarat Land Retains PMLA Attachment for ₹149 Crore Bank Fraud
Appellants, daughters of late Shri Ashok Agicha, challenged confirmation of Provisional Attachment Order No. 01/2024 dated 05.01.2024 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), attaching their 33% share in agricultural land at Meghpar Borichi, Kutch, Gujarat. The property was part of a larger attachment linked to M/s Associate High Pressure Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (AHPTPL)-accused of defrauding Union Bank of India of ₹149.89 crore through bogus LCs, diversion of funds, & inflated imports.
Appellants contended that neither they nor their late father (a director in AHPTPL who died in 2016) were accused in any PMLA or CBI case, & that the land was purchased by their father in 2004, long before the alleged fraud (2016–2021). They argued that the ED’s reliance on an unregistered “declaration” emailed by a co-accused’s son was baseless, that the attachment was mechanical, & that the property, being pre-offence, couldn’t represent “proceeds of crime,” citing Pavana Dibbur (SC, 2023) & Davy Varghese (Ker HC, 2024).
