Under PMLA no permissions are required for further investigation - Calcutta HC

Case: Enforcement Directorate v Debabrata Halder

While canceling bail granted to an accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Calcutta High Court held that further investigation is not subject to permission.

According to Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, the agency's only duty is to notify the Court that further investigation is needed.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) prayed to cancel the bail of the opposite party accused of misappropriating Rs 173.50 crore in public funds.

In April of this year, the accused was granted bail by a Special CBI Court, which stated that no further investigation had been requested and that keeping him in custody would serve no purpose.

The ED challenged this order.

According to the accused, the plea for investigation was described in a paragraph of the complaint as the basis for the investigation agency's request to cancel the bail. The complaint should, however, have been filed after exhausting this process.

According to the Court, economic offenses are a class apart and require a different approach in bail based on the case of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy v CBI. 

Justice Ghosh distinguished between releasing a person who appeared in response to a summons and releasing a person who was arrested during an investigation.

Thus, the Special Court held that there was no prayer for further investigation contained in the complaint filed by the prosecution. According to Section 45 of the PMLA, which lists bail conditions, this reasoning violates the law.

Thus, the accused's bail was revoked.