The Orissa High Court released the accused of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act ( PMLA ) Offence under stringent conditions as he cooperated with the investigations. The allegation against the accused was that Rs.1 crore was duped into getting approval/ clearance from govt authorities. It was viewed that the allegation is by a specific individual alleging a specific sum of money paid to the Petitioner for a particular purpose and therefore, there is no possibility of any enhancement of the cheated amount.
The Petitioner, Surjit Kumar Dhal is a Senior Journalist having 20 years of experience in his profession and presently working as the Editor-in-Chief of an Online News Portal “Reporters Today” and Editor-in-Chief of Odia Daily “Mahabharat”. The petitioner filed the bail application challenging the rejection of his bail application vide order passed by the Presiding Officer, Designated Court under the OPID Act, Cuttack, arising out of Economic Offence Wing Bhubaneswar for the commission of offence punishable under Sections 420/467/468/471/506 of the I.P.C.
The Informant has been a real estate business for the last 12 years. In connection with his real estate business, the petitioner is required to obtain various clearances/approvals from the Government/agencies/authorities for his construction work. The Informant came in contact with the present Petitioner, who had come to the Informant in connection with the booking of a flat through a property broker. During such conversion with the Informant, the Petitioner introduced himself as a Senior Journalist and that he is interested in booking two flats for his upcoming projects.
As per the allegations made in the F.I.R., the Petitioner gave an impression that he has a good rapport with highly placed Government officials and that he could easily get the official works of the Informant done. Believing the words of the Petitioner, the Informant entrusted some of his official works pertaining to environment clearance, pollution certificate and Government/Authorities approval for his future projects.
It was alleged that the Petitioner tried to intimidate the Informant by citing his connection with highly placed officers. Accordingly, the Informant paid a sum of Rs.30 lakhs in cash to the Petitioner and Rs.10 lakhs through account transfer. It has also been alleged that the Petitioner asked the Informant to provide two luxurious cars to get the work done which was complied with by the Informant by providing one Mercedes and one Audi Car to the Informant.
At the later stage, the Petitioner gave a fake BDA approval to the Informant in respect of a project for which he had taken money. On getting such approval later, the Informant became suspicious, as a result of which, he enquired from the competent authority and, as such, came to know that the approval letter was a forged document.
Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the Petitioner has been languishing in jail custody since 06.01.2024 and that the investigation in this case has progressed substantially and the final charge sheet is likely to be filed very soon. It was also contended that the custodial interrogation of the Petitioner has already been concluded. Therefore, further detention of the Petitioner in judicial custody would not improve the case of the prosecution and the same will not be helpful for the prosecution in any manner.
It was contended that as per the F.I.R. allegation, an amount of Rs.1 Crore has been duped by the present Petitioner from the Informant in the garb of getting approval/clearance from the Government agencies/authorities. Thus, the allegations made in the F.I.R. are quite serious and need to be investigated thoroughly.
Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra observed that the Petitioner has been in custody since 06.01.2024, i.e. almost three months. In the meanwhile, the Petitioner must have been interrogated by the I.O. on several occasions. Moreover, it also appears that the allegation is by a specific individual alleging a specific sum of money paid to the Petitioner for a particular purpose. Therefore, there is no possibility of any enhancement of the cheated amount. It also appears that the Petitioner does not have any criminal antecedent.
The Court released the Petitioner on bail subject to certain stringent conditions. Further directed the Petitioner be released on bail in the aforesaid case on furnishing bail bond of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh) with two local solvent sureties each for the like amount to the satisfaction of the Court in seisin over the matter.
In addition to the above, the Petitioner shall also furnish a cash security of Rs.10,00,000/- (Rupees ten lakhs) before the Court in seisin over the matter, which shall be kept in any Nationalized bank in interest bearing account initially for one year which will be renewable from time to time till the conclusion of the trial and the same shall be abiding by the outcome of the trial of the case.
Mr Bishnu Prasad Pradhan appeared for the petitioner and Mr Arun Kumar Budhia appeared for the Informant.
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