The Delhi High Court has set aside non-bailable warrants issued against a UK-based entrepreneur in an ongoing money-laundering investigation linked to the Videocon bank fraud case, holding that such coercive process could not be issued in the absence of proper service of summons and without the petitioner being shown as an accused evading arrest.
The case arose from an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, following a CBI FIR alleging large-scale diversion of bank funds by Videocon Group companies. The petitioner, whose overseas entities had financial transactions with Videocon Group firms, was summoned by the ED for investigation. The ED alleged that despite repeated summons, including through Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) routes, he failed to appear, prompting the Special Court in Delhi to issue non-bailable warrants, which were later refused to be cancelled.
Allowing the petition under Section 482 CrPC, the High Court held that the issuance of non-bailable warrants was legally unsustainable. The Court noted that the ED itself had repeatedly described the petitioner as a “suspect” during the investigation or as a “witness” in the MLAT request, and not as an accused. It emphasised that under Section 73 CrPC, non-bailable warrants can be issued only against a person who is accused of a non-bailable offence and is evading arrest. In the present case, no prosecution complaint had been filed against the petitioner, nor had any court summons been issued and disobeyed by him.
The Court refused to examine questions relating to service of summons or alleged non-cooperation of the petitioner, holding that the issuance of non-bailable warrants itself was legally unsustainable under Section 73 of the CrPC.
Accordingly, the High Court quashed the impugned orders and non-bailable warrants issued against the petitioner.
Appearances
Petitioner- Mr. Mohit Mathur, Senior Advocate with Mr. Arshdeep Singh Khurana, Ms. Sulakshan S. Vedartham, Ms. Khushboo Jain, Mr. Chetan Nagpal Advocates.
Respondent- Mr. Zoheb Hossain, Special Counsel with Mr. Vivek Gurnani, Panel Counsel, Mr. Kartik Sabharwal, Mr. Pranjal Tripathi and Mr. Daanish Abbasi, Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Mr. Navin Kumar and Mr. Ashish Kapoor, Advocates.
