Sarla Gupta & Another Vs Directorate of Enforcement (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court held that the accused can apply by invoking the provisions of Section 91 of the CrPC (Section 94 of the BNSS) for providing copies of the documents which are not relied upon by the prosecution. Accordingly, ED directed to provide soft or legible copies of all the documents which have not been supplied.
Facts- In July 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a First Information Report against the appellants for the offences punishable u/s. 120-B r.w.s. 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Based on the said FIR, an Enforcement Case Information Report was registered by the Directorate of Enforcement. A complaint u/s. 44(1)(b) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 was filed before the Special Court on 24th August 2018. The appellants were shown as accused in the complaint. The allegation in the complaint is of the commission of the offence u/s. 3 of the PMLA, which is punishable u/s. 4 of the PMLA. The Special Judge took cognizance of the offence on 17th September 2018. The appellants were supplied copies of the complaint and some documents relied upon by the prosecution.
