No illegality in AAP MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra's arrest: Punjab and Haryana high court

CHANDIGARH: Upholding ED's arrest of AAP MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra in connection with an alleged fraud of Rs 40 crore, the Punjab and Haryana high court has observed that the MLA's arrest was in consonance with Section 19 (1) of PMLA and there was no illegality in the orders of remand and subsequent proceedings.
"In the instant case, there is no dispute that the written grounds of arrest were communicated to the petitioner on the day of his arrest.It is, thus, manifest that the order of remand which runs into six pages has been passed with application of mind and not mechanically or in a routine manner... The special court had taken into account the nature of the case against the petitioner and the factum of his non-cooperation and other relevant factors while remanding the petitioner into police custody by its order dated November 7, 2023," the HC observed in its detailed orders released on Sunday.
The division bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Kirti Singh passed the orders while dismissing a plea filed by Gajjanmajra, MLA from Amargarh. The main issue before the bench was whether the provisions of Section 19 (1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act were complied with before effecting the arrest of petitioner. His counsel had submitted that Gajjanmajra had been arrested in contravention of Section 19 (1) of PMLA as there was non-compliance on the part of the investigating officer. Section 19 of PMLA deals with the power to arrest in cases.
The counsel for the petitioner contended that the entire material in possession against the arrested petitioner, including the memo of arrest and the grounds of arrest had been sent to the adjudicating authority on Nov 8 and 9, 2023, whereas it should have been sent immediately, so there was violation of Section 19 (2) of PMLA.
The bench observed that even if it had been sent after two days, it could not be said that the provisions of Section 19 (2) of PMLA had not been complied with. "The expression as soon as possible in relation to the communication of the grounds of arrest have been interpreted by the Supreme Court in the case of Ram Kishor Arora versus ED to be within 24 hours of the arrest, but there is no such mandate for sending the material to the adjudicating authority the same day or within 24 hours," the HC held while dismissing the plea.
CHARGES AGAINST LEGISLATOR
Allegations against the MLA were that he was a director and guarantor of M/s TCL which also comprised other family members as directors and guarantors. The company had obtained loans and credit facilities for a sum of over Rs 46 crore, and this amount is alleged to have been diverted to other companies contrary to the terms and conditions of extending credit facilities.
A sum of Rs 3.12 crore was also stated to have been diverted into the personal account of the petitioner. He was stated to be the single largest shareholder in M/s TCL holding with 29.72% as on March 31, 2021. However, he resigned from the company on Aug 11, 2016. The account of M/s TCL was declared as fraud on Feb 9, 2018, on the basis of a forensic audit report, and the matter was reported to RBI. The MLA was issued summons to join the investigation, but he did not appear before the probe agency.