India News | Pune Land Grab Case: Realtor Avinash Bhosle's Son, Two Others Discharged by PMLA Court for Want of Scheduled Offence
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A special court here on Friday discharged realtor Avinash Bhosle's son Amit Bhosle of Pune-based ARA properties and two others in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land grab in Pune citing the absence of a scheduled offence.
Mumbai, Dec 16 (PTI) A special court here on Friday discharged realtor Avinash Bhosle's son Amit Bhosle of Pune-based ARA properties and two others in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land grab in Pune citing the absence of a scheduled offence.
The trio, comprising Amit Bhosle, Ravindra Shinde and Ramsita Bhuvneshwari, was discharged from the case by special judge M G Deshpande.
The court noted that a criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence (predicate offence) is not in existence, which is the core and basic qualification required for prosecution in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had initiated a money laundering probe in December 2020 based on an FIR registered by Pune police.
The ED case pertains to the alleged construction of a commercial complex on a prime plot of land in Pune that was meant for a complex for bureaucrats.
The FIR alleged the land was transferred by one Ranjit Mohite to ARA Properties in violation of original allotment conditions existing at that point of time, which stipulated the plot could have been transferred only to government or commissioned officers.
This was the primary condition at the time of allotment of this land by the government in 1951, as per the ED.
In the discharge application filed before the special court, the accused claimed there was no scheduled offence in existence on the basis of which the present matter was registered under the PML Act.
The court trying the case relating to the scheduled offence accepted the closure report as well as the subsequent order of closing the scheduled offence in entirety based on compounding has attained finality, their plea said.
Hence, the money laundering case cannot stand in the wake of the recent judgment of the Supreme court, their plea contended.
The special judge, in his order, noted the ED was made aware of the closure report, yet it did not challenge it or even prefer any appeal against the acquittal of Ranjit Mohite.
"The period for challenging any summary report is 90 days and the forum provided by the law for the same is the High Court. In this way, the silence and inaction on the part of ED, as such, clearly indicates their acceptance regarding non-existence of predicate offence against Amit Bhosle, Shinde and Bhuvneshwari," the court said.
In this way, the closure report has become absolute and attained finality, it added.
The court also said there was nothing to show the proceeds/properties in question were derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence, which can be regarded as proceeds of crime.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)