Telangana HC not inclined to give relief to Musaddilal Gems
The Telangana High Court was not inclined to give any relief to Musaddilal Gems and Jewels India Private Ltd in relation to its request to quash the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on allegations of defrauding MMTC Limited to the tune of Rs 549.06 crore in the purchase of bullion under buyer’s credit.
Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court was not inclined to give any relief to Musaddilal Gems and Jewels India Private Ltd in relation to its request to quash the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on allegations of defrauding MMTC Limited to the tune of Rs 549.06 crore in the purchase of bullion under buyer’s credit.
In the allegations, ED filed a prosecution complaint before the Special Court for PMLA cases against MBS Jewellers Pvt Ltd, Sukesh Gupta, Musaddilal Gems and Jewels (India) Pvt Ltd, Anurag Gupta, Karri Ravi Prasad and Valluri Mohan Rao. The special court took cognizance of a complaint filed by ED on March 1.
Before the court took cognizance, Shashank Gupta, MD of Musaddilal Gems and Jewels Ltd and kin of Sukesh Gupta, approached the Telangana High Court challenging ED’s accusations against their firm.
On Thursday, Narender Naik, counsel for ED, submitted to the court that the special court had taken the prosecution complaint into cognisance. Hence, the petition cannot be maintained. Further, he submitted that the Supreme Court was seized of the matter and had stayed the Telangana High Court’s order in giving relief to Sukesh Gupta.
ED counsel argued that when the issue of quashing of ECIR was pending before the Supreme Court, the High Court could not go into the issue.
Senior counsel Vinod Kumar Deshpande, representing Musaddilal Gems, argued that while quashing the ED case against Sukesh Gupta, the HC had observed that there were no proceeds of crime and any monetary dues can be claimed by a civil suit.
Justice Sujana was not inclined to give any relief. Hence, the senior counsel requested withdrawal of the petition on behalf of Musaddilal Gems and Jewels, with a liberty to file a fresh criminal petition challenging the special court’s cognizance of prosecution complaint.
