Directorate Of Enforcement versus M/S Jindal Steel And Power Ltd And Ors - Order No: 237

CNR No. DLCT11-000452-2019 CRC No. 01/2019 (Old CRC No. 08/18) ECIR No. 12/DLZO/2014 Branch: Delhi Zonal Office, Zone-II. ED Vs. M/s Jindal Steel & Power Ltd & Ors. Offence u/s 3 and punishable u/s 4 PMLA, 2002

22.03.2025

Proceedings

Present:

Ld. Sr. Advocate/Special PP Sh. Maninder Singh with Ld. Special PPs Sh. Rajesh Batra and Sh. N.K. Matta along with Ld. Advocates Ms. Sonia Kukreja (through VC), Sh. Prabhas Bajaj, Sh. Ansh Singh Luthra, Ms. Jyoti Khattar, Sh. Priyanshu Tyagi and Ms. Sadhika Kochhar for DoE.

Sh. Vivek Mittal, AR of A-1 M/s Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. with Ld. Counsel Sh. Ritik Gupta.

Sh. Ravindra Kumar Manchal (through VC), AR of A-2 company M/s Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt. Ltd with Ld. Counsel Vignaraj Pasayat.

Sh. Ajaib Singh, AR of A-3 M/s Jindal Reality Pvt. Ltd. with Ld. Counsels Sh. Prashant Mehta and Sh. Charanpreet Singh (all through VC).

Sh. Chandan Singh Sountiyal, AR of A-4 M/s New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd., with Ld. Proxy Counsel Sh. Sidharth Barua.

None for A-5 M/s Sowbhagya Media Ltd.

A-15 B.S.N. Suryanarayan (also AR of A-6 M/s Nihar Stocks Limited) (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Sh. Bhupender Kumar.

A-7 Sh. Naveen Jindal with Ld. Counsels Sh. Gurpreet Singh Parwanda (both through VC) and Sh. Pallav Srivastava.

[Proceedings against A-8 K. Ramakrishna Prasad stands abated vide order dated 15.03.2021].

A-9 Sushil Kumar Maroo (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Sh. Shishir Mathur.

A-10 Rajeev Jain with Ld. Counsels Sh. Somesh Arora and Sh. Vikash Gupta.

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A-11 Anand Goel (through VC).

A-12 Rajeev Aggarwal (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Ms. Ana Upadhyay.

A-13 Siddharth Madra (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Ms. Raidehi.

A-14 Gyan Swaroop Garg with Ld. Counsels Sh. Hemant Shah, Sh. Vishal Mann and Sh. Ojas Kaushik.

A-16 Arjun Saraswat (through VC).

Sh. Narendra Nath Mohanta, AR for A-17 M/s Malaysia Securities Pvt Ltd., A-19 M/s Swedish Portfolio Pvt Ltd, A-24 M/s Zurich Securities Pvt Ltd and A-25 M/s Janus Value Folio Pvt Ltd (merged with Sarda Mines Pvt Ltd vide order issued by Hon'ble Regional Director Kolkata with appointed dated being 01.04.2020).

Sh. Mukesh Singh, AR for A-18 M/s Maxrich Global Stocks Pvt Ltd (now known as M/s Jai Raghunandan Trading Pvt Ltd).

Sh. Dinesh Kumar, AR for A-20 M/s Freedom Buildwell Pvt Ltd (now known as M/s Lombard Portfolio Pvt. Ltd), A-21 M/s Campus Builcon Pvt Ltd (now known as M/s Templeton Stockgrowth Pvt. Ltd), A-22 M/s Olympus Global Stocks Pvt. Ltd and A-23 M/s M/s Blackrock Securities Private Limited.

Sh. Harshit Sethi (through VC), Sh. Kartik Yadav and Ms. Mansi Tripathi, Ld. Counsels for A-16 to A-25.

None for A-26 M/s Mumbai Buildwell Private Limited (names struck off in the records of RoC, deleted as an accused vide orders dated 23.11.2024).

Mr. Gyan Swaroop Garg, AR of A-27 M/s Natma Securities Ltd.

Note (comprising of 30 pages) summarizing the arguments on behalf of DoE for framing charge of money laundering u/s 3 of PMLA, 2002 against all the accused, filed by DoE.

Copy given to Ld. Counsels for the accused.

Sh. Maninder Singh, Ld. Sr. Advocate/Special PP for DoE supplemented the Note by further addressing the court and pressed for framing charge of money laundering u/s 3 of PMLA, 2002 against all the accused.

In the Note, reliance is placed by DoE on the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Directorate of Enforcement vs. Padmanabhan Kishore, 2022 SCC Online SC 1490.

This judgment was followed by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Tahir Hussain vs. Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, 2022 SCC Online DEL 4038 and by the Hon'ble High Court of Madras in the case of R. Kannan vs. Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, 2022 SCC Online Madras 5873.

This judgment (by the Division Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court) has been relied on by this court in earlier orders on charge for framing the charge of money laundering against the bribe giver also whereas according to Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary and Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors., 2022 SCC Online 929 which is a judgment by Three Judges Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in para 269, it is held that process or activity relating to a scheduled offence can be indulged in only 'after' the property is derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity (a scheduled offence).

On the request of this Court, Sh. Maninder Singh, Ld. Sr. Advocate/Ld. Special PP for DoE submitted that he will file latest case law in this regard, whether in favour or against the complainant.

He also submitted that he will file a short Note dealing with applicability of a judgment by a smaller bench where a previous decision by a larger bench is not cited and recourse open to subordinate courts in Page 3 of 4

the light of the decision of the Hon'ble High Court following the decision of smaller bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed without referring to earlier decision of the larger bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

The aforementioned Note be filed seven days before the next date.

List on 19.04.2025, 26.04.2025 and 03.05.2025 for arguments on charge by Ld. Counsels for the accused.

Sh. Gurpreet Singh Parwanda, Ld. Counsel for Accused No. 7 Sh. Naveen Jindal submitted that the Ld. Counsels for the accused will decide amongst themselves who will start the arguments on charge first on behalf of accused and sequence of arguments by Ld. Counsels for the accused.

(Arun Bhardwaj)

Special Judge, (PC Act) (CBI), Coal Block Cases-01, RADC New Delhi/22.03.2025

CNR No. DLCT11-000452-2019

CRC No. 01/2019 (Old CRC No. 08/18)

ECIR No. 12/DLZO/2014

Branch: Delhi Zonal Office, Zone-II.

ED Vs. M/s Jindal Steel & Power Ltd & Ors.

Offence u/s 3 and punishable u/s 4 PMLA, 2002

22.03.2025

Present: Ld. Sr. Advocate/Special PP Sh. Maninder Singh with Ld.

Special PPs Sh. Rajesh Batra and Sh. N.K. Matta along with

Ld. Advocates Ms. Sonia Kukreja (through VC), Sh. Prabhas

Bajaj, Sh. Ansh Singh Luthra, Ms. Jyoti Khattar, Sh.

Priyanshu Tyagi and Ms. Sadhika Kochhar for DoE.

Sh. Vivek Mittal, AR of A-1 M/s Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.

with Ld. Counsel Sh. Ritik Gupta.

Sh. Ravindra Kumar Manchal (through VC), AR of A-2

company M/s Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt. Ltd with Ld. Counsel

Vignaraj Pasayat.

Sh. Ajaib Singh, AR of A-3 M/s Jindal Reality Pvt. Ltd. with

Ld. Counsels Sh. Prashant Mehta and Sh. Charanpreet Singh

(all through VC).

Sh. Chandan Singh Sountiyal, AR of A-4 M/s New Delhi

Exim Pvt. Ltd., with Ld. Proxy Counsel Sh. Sidharth Barua.

A-15 B.S.N. Suryanarayan (also AR of A-6 M/s Nihar Stocks

Limited) (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Sh. Bhupender

Kumar.

A-7 Sh. Naveen Jindal with Ld. Counsels Sh. Gurpreet Singh

Parwanda (both through VC) and Sh. Pallav Srivastava.

[Proceedings against A-8 K. Ramakrishna Prasad stands abated vide or-

der dated 15.03.2021].

A-9 Sushil Kumar Maroo (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Sh.

Shishir Mathur.

A-10 Rajeev Jain with Ld. Counsels Sh. Somesh Arora and

Sh. Vikash Gupta.

Page 1 of 4

A-12 Rajeev Aggarwal (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Ms.

Ana Upadhyay.

A-13 Siddharth Madra (through VC) with Ld. Counsel Ms.

Raidehi.

A-14 Gyan Swaroop Garg with Ld. Counsels Sh. Hemant

Shah, Sh. Vishal Mann and Sh. Ojas Kaushik.

Sh. Narendra Nath Mohanta, AR for A-17 M/s Malaysia

Securities Pvt Ltd., A-19 M/s Swedish Portfolio Pvt Ltd, A-24

M/s Zurich Securities Pvt Ltd and A-25 M/s Janus Value Folio

Pvt Ltd (merged with Sarda Mines Pvt Ltd vide order issued

by Hon’ble Regional Director Kolkata with appointed dated

being 01.04.2020).

Sh. Mukesh Singh, AR for A-18 M/s Maxrich Global Stocks

Pvt Ltd (now known as M/s Jai Raghunandan Trading Pvt

Ltd).

Sh. Dinesh Kumar, AR for A-20 M/s Freedom Buildwell Pvt

Ltd (now known as M/s Lombard Portfolio Pvt. Ltd), A-21

M/s Campus Builcon Pvt Ltd (now known as M/s Templeton

Stockgrowth Pvt. Ltd), A-22 M/s Olympus Global Stocks Pvt.

Ltd and A-23 M/s M/s Blackrock Securities Private Limited.

Sh. Harshit Sethi (through VC), Sh. Kartik Yadav and Ms.

Mansi Tripathi, Ld. Counsels for A-16 to A-25.

None for A-26 M/s Mumbai Buildwell Private Limited (names

struck off in the records of RoC, deleted as an accused vide

orders dated 23.11.2024).

Mr. Gyan Swaroop Garg, AR of A-27 M/s Natma Securities

Ltd.

Note (comprising of 30 pages) summarizing the arguments on

behalf of DoE for framing charge of money laundering u/s 3 of PMLA,

2002 against all the accused, filed by DoE.

Page 2 of 4

Sh. Maninder Singh, Ld. Sr. Advocate/Special PP for DoE

supplemented the Note by further addressing the court and pressed for

framing charge of money laundering u/s 3 of PMLA, 2002 against all the

accused.

In the Note, reliance is placed by DoE on the judgment of the

Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Directorate of Enforcement vs.

Padmanabhan Kishore, 2022 SCC Online SC 1490.

This judgment was followed by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court

in the case of Tahir Hussain vs. Assistant Director, Directorate of

Enforcement, 2022 SCC Online DEL 4038 and by the Hon’ble High Court

of Madras in the case of R. Kannan vs. Assistant Director, Directorate of

Enforcement, 2022 SCC Online Madras 5873.

This judgment (by the Division Bench of the Hon’ble

Supreme Court) has been relied on by this court in earlier orders on charge

for framing the charge of money laundering against the bribe giver also

whereas according to Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary and Ors. vs. Union of

India and Ors., 2022 SCC Online 929 which is a judgment by Three Judges

Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in para 269, it is held that process or

activity relating to a scheduled offence can be indulged in only “after” the

property is derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity (a scheduled

offence).

On the request of this Court, Sh. Maninder Singh, Ld. Sr.

Advocate/Ld. Special PP for DoE submitted that he will file latest case law

in this regard, whether in favour or against the complainant.

He also submitted that he will file a short Note dealing with

applicability of a judgment by a smaller bench where a previous decision

by a larger bench is not cited and recourse open to subordinate courts in

Page 3 of 4

the light of the decision of the Hon’ble High Court following the decision

of smaller bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court passed without referring to

earlier decision of the larger bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

The aforementioned Note be filed seven days before the next

date.

List on 19.04.2025, 26.04.2025 and 03.05.2025 for arguments

on charge by Ld. Counsels for the accused.

Sh. Gurpreet Singh Parwanda, Ld. Counsel for Accused No. 7

Sh. Naveen Jindal submitted that the Ld. Counsels for the accused will

decide amongst themselves who will start the arguments on charge first on

behalf of accused and sequence of arguments by Ld. Counsels for the

accused.

Special Judge, (PC Act) (CBI),

Coal Block Cases-01, RADC

New Delhi/22.03.2025

Page 4 of 4