Naresh Goyal, the founder of Jet Airways, a prominent Indian Airways and his wife escaped from the case filed by the Enforcement Department (ED) under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The Bombay High Court presided by Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan quashed all the proceedings against them.
In hearing the request to overturn the Enforcement Case Information Report, the justices already stopped the ED from taking coercive action against the defendant and his wife (ECIR). The Goyals were the only ones exempt from all proceedings at the time the ECIR was filed in 2020.
The Goyals’ legal representative referenced Supreme Court rulings such as ED v. Obulapuram Mining Company of 2017 and Vijay Chaudhary v. Union of India of 2022 to argue that PMLA proceedings are no longer viable when the predicate—underlying offense—has been invalidated or resolved in the accused’s favour.
The case was started as a result of a FIR Akbar Tours (India) Pvt. Ltd. filed with the Mumbai police on February 18, 2020, alleging the theft of 46 crores in commission. Also, the ED registered the case information report under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and the PMLA.
The magistrate dismissed the ED’s protest petition against the closure report. Additionally, the same magistrate accepted the closure report and rejected the Akbar Tours objection petition. The Marg police station, sessions court and also the Supreme Court dismissed ED’s plea regarding this matter. It was observed that there is no prior offence against them.
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