By – Aditi Gupta
In a major decision, the Supreme Court said that the ED has no right to arrest the accused under the terms of the PMLA Act if the special court has taken suo motu cognizance of the case. The court stated that the ED must apply to the relevant court in order to be permitted custody of the accused. The court would only give the ED custody of the accused once it is satisfied with the application.
The accused cannot be said to be in jail if he has appeared in the special court in response to a summons, according to the bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan. The panel of the Supreme Court ruled that an accused person does not need to apply for bail if he has previously appeared in court on a summons and is not subject to the twin obligations imposed by Section 45 of the PMLA Act.
The twin criteria offer that if an accused person in a money laundering case asks bail, the court will first hear from the government attorney and only grant bail if it is satisfied that the accused person is innocent and won’t do the same crime after being liberated will satisfy, that the perpetrator won’t be granted bail by the court. The Supreme Court’s ruling about whether, in the event that the special court has taken suo motu cognizance of the matter, the accused in a money laundering case needs to comply with severe dual conditions for release.