RAKESH KUMAR GULATI vs DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 16thApril, 2025 Pronounced on: 7th May, 2025 + BAIL APPLN. 4821/2024 RAKESH KUMAR GULATI .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Tanveer Ahmed Mir, Senior Advocate with Mr. Yash Datt and Mr. Chandrashekhar Anand, Advocates. versus DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT .....Respondent Through: Mr. Manish Jain, SPP with Ms. Sougata Ganguly and Ms. Deepa, Advocates for ED. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT SHARMA JUDGMENT AMIT SHARMA, J. 1. The present application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, (for short, ‘BNSS’), read with Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, (for short, ‘PMLA’), has been filed seeking regular bail in CC No. 01/2024, arising out of ECIR No.: GNZO/09/2021, under Sections 3/4 of the PMLA, registered with Directorate Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:BHASKAR SINGH RAWAT BAIL APPLN. 4821/2024 Page 1 of 30 Signing Date:07.05.2025 19:30:23 of Enforcement/respondent. The said ECIR was registered in respect of predicate/scheduled offence in FIR bearing No. RCCHG2020A0021, dated 31.12.2020, under Section 120B read with Sections 406, 409, 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, (for short, ‘IPC’), and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, (for short, ‘PC Act’), registered with CBI, ACB, Chandigarh. Factual Background 2. The present ECIR arises out of FIR/RC being RCCHG2020A0021 which was registered with CBI on a complaint filed by the then Chief Manager of Punjab National Bank, Hindu College Branch, Sonipat, Haryana, against M/s Sunstar Overseas Ltd. (for short, ‘accused company’) and its directors. As per the said FIR, accounts of 5 banks, namely, PNB, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and State Bank of India were declared NPAs (Non-