Bombay High Court Quashes ECIR Against Naresh Goyal & His Wife in Money Laundering Case

A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice PK Chavan on Thursday quashed the ECIR filed against Naresh Goyal and his wife by the Enforcement Directorate.

The case pertains to an FIR registered in 2018 by a travel agent company in Mumbai against Goyal after Jet Airways went bankrupt and the complainant suffered a loss of Rs. 46 crores. However, a ‘C’ Summary Report was filed by the police since the dispute was of civil nature.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed a protest petition against it before the sessions court which was not allowed and subsequently it was upheld by the high court and the Supreme Court.

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the ECIR could not sustain, having regard to the mandate of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and as such the ECIR should be quashed and set aside because there was no predicate offence.

Goyal's counsel relied on Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's stand in Supreme Court wherein it was submitted that once the closure report was filed the ECIR did not survive.

The counsel for the Enforcement Directorate argued that ECIR could not be quashed as it was not a statutory document and could not be equated with FIR.

The division bench allowed the prayer in terms of the clause 'a' of the petition and quashed the ECIR terming it as illegal and contrary to the law.

Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam appeared for Naresh Goyal and Senior Advocate Abad Ponda appeared for Anita Goyal. Advocate Sriram Sirsat appeared for Enforcement Directorate.