Mohd.Aihatesham Khan vs Enforcement Directorate

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The applicant filed a second anticipatory bail application under Section 482 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 read with Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, apprehending arrest in connection with an ECIR registered by the Enforcement Directorate for offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B and 34 of the IPC, arising out of five criminal cases involving alleged money laundering and embezzlement of approximately eighteen crores of rupees through forged documents and invoices submitted before the Indore Municipal Corporation.

The applicant's first anticipatory bail application (MCRC No. 18964/2025) had already been dismissed on merits by a coordinate Bench of the High Court, and a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court was dismissed as withdrawn. A second application before the trial court was also rejected on 28/06/2025. The applicant contended that he had not been made an accused in three of the five predicate offences and had already been granted anticipatory bail by coordinate Benches and the Supreme Court in related crime numbers upon deposit of a substantial amount.

The High Court, while considering the twin conditions mandated under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and relying upon the Supreme Court decisions in P. Chidambaram v. Directorate of Enforcement (2019) 9 SCC 24 and Directorate of Enforcement v. M. Gopal Reddy (2022 SCC OnLine SC 1862), found no ground to interfere with the earlier coordinate Bench order and dismissed the second anticipatory bail application, holding that the stringent conditions under Section 45 of the PMLA were not satisfied.

Catchwords: anticipatory bail · second bail application · Prevention of Money Laundering Act · twin conditions · Section 45 PMLA · economic offences · money laundering · Enforcement Directorate · forged documents · embezzlement · custodial interrogation · ECIR · predicate offence