NARESH BANSAL Vs. ADJUDICATING AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Petitions have been filed challenging the proceedings initiated by the Directorate of Enforcement [hereinafter referred to as 'the Directorate'], the Respondent herein. In particular, the Petitioners assail the validity of issuance of the Provisional Attachment Order ('PAO') passed under Sec. 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 [hereinafter referred to as 'PMLA'] along with the Original Complaint filed under Sec. 5(5) of the PMLA and Show Cause Notice ('SCN') issued under Sec. 8 of the PMLA thereof.

(2.) At the threshold, it is noted that the present batch of six petitions arises out of a similar ECIR registered by the Directorate, thereby challenging the proceedings initiated under the provisions of PMLA on substantially similar factual matrix with the Petitioners advancing largely analogous submissions. Therefore, in order to maintain clarity and continuity in the adjudication of the present batch, this Court deems it appropriate to treat W.P.(C) 12261/2015 as the lead matter and refer to the facts delineated therein for the sake of consistency.

(3.) The dispute between the parties arises out of the actions initiated by the Directorate against the Petitioner in connection with large scale hawala transactions and illegal international cricket betting operations [hereinafter referred to as 'Int'l Cricket Betting Racket'] conducted through a U.K. based website "Betfair.com". The said operations were stated to have been carried out from a Farmhouse situated in village Sikandarpur, Nr. Ajwa Chowkdee, Vadodara by one Mr. Girish Parshottam Patel @ Tommy Patel and his associate, Mr. Kiran Jayantilal Mala.