The Kerala High Court dismisses Bail application filed by the Accused No.12, Abdul Gafoor, in the absence of reasonable grounds to believe that accused is not guilty of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The accused is alleged to have committed the offences punishable under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Multiple FIRs were registered at various police stations in Kerala against one Nishad (Accused No.1) and others alleging the offences punishable under Sections 406, 420 and 506 r/w 34 of IPC from January 2021 to March 2021. It was alleged in those FIRs that Nishad, the main accused, along with the remaining accused had cheated several investors by accepting investment under an investment scheme through his three Bangalore based companies by promising high returns of dividend. As per the scheme, the investors will be able to exchange Morris Coins – Crypto currency after the 300-day lock-up period. It was further alleged that the accused also offered high commission income for those who bring more investors to invest in the Morris Coin Crypto currency and that even though the dividend was paid as agreed initially, the accused persons neither paid any dividend thereafter, nor returned the money collected from the investors.
The investigation revealed that the accused persons defrauded a total amount of `1200 crore under the above-mentioned scheme. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, who conducted the investigation into one of the crimes forwarded a report about all the crimes registered against Nishad and others to the Directorate of Enforcement, Kochi. The petitioner was arrested later and he was remanded to judicial custody. The bail application filed by him before the Special Court was dismissed and hence the petitioner approached the Court with the bail application.
While deciding the case Justice Kauser Edappagath observed that” On a careful analysis of the materials placed on record, the factual discussions made above and the legal submissions advanced, it is not possible for me at this stage to record satisfaction that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the petitioner is not guilty of the offences alleged. The reasonable ground mentioned in Section 45(1)(ii) of PMLA connotes substantial probable causes for believing that the accused is not guilty of the offence charged.”
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