PANKAJ BANSAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Challenge in these appeals is to the orders dtd. 20/7/2023 and 26/7/2023 passed by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing CWP No. 14536 of 2023 filed by Pankaj Bansal and CWP No. 14539 of 2023 filed by his father, Basant Bansal. By the order dtd. 20/7/2023, the Division Bench opined that, as the constitutional validity of Sec. 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (for brevity, 'the Act of 2002'), had been upheld by the Supreme Court, the challenge to the same by the writ petitioners could not be considered only because of the fact that a review petition was pending before the Supreme Court. The prayer of the writ petitioners to that effect was accordingly rejected. By the later order dtd. 26/7/2023, the Division Bench rejected the prayer of the writ petitioners to quash/set aside their arrest orders along with their arrest memos and the consequential proceedings arising therefrom, including the orders dtd. 15/6/2023, 20/6/2023 and 26/6/2023 passed by the learned Vacation Judge/Additional Sessions Judge, Panchkula, whereby they were remanded to the custody of the Directorate of Enforcement (for brevity, 'the ED') and thereafter, to judicial custody. The Division Bench further held that, keeping in view the gravity of the allegations against them, their prayer to be released from custody did not deserve acceptance and rejected the same. In consequence, the Division Bench dismissed both the writ petitions. Hence, these appeals by Pankaj Bansal and Basant Bansal.

(3.) The genesis of these appeals is traceable to FIR No. 0006 dtd. 17/4/2023 registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Panchkula, Haryana, under Ss. 7, 8, 11 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, read with Sec. 120B IPC for the offences of corruption and bribery along with criminal conspiracy. The names of the accused in this FIR are: