Panchkula Court Orders Transfer of Corruption Case to Special PMLA Court
In a significant legal development, the additional district and sessions court in Panchkula has officially transferred the trial of a high-profile corruption case involving former special judge of the CBI court, Sudhir Parmar. The case will now be heard by the special court designated for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases and CBI matters in Panchkula.
Court Order and Judicial Reasoning
The transfer order was issued by additional district and sessions judge Himanshu Singh, following an application filed by Roop Bansal, one of the directors of the M3M group of companies and an accused in the case. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had opposed this application, arguing that the concerned authority had not formally requested the transfer to a special judge.
However, the court rejected the ED's objection, emphasizing that the provisions of the PMLA could not be ignored merely because the application was submitted by an accused party. In his observation, the ADJ stated, "Here in the present matter, the concerned authority, for reasons best known to it, did not move any application so far in consonance with the provisions of Section 41(1)(c) of the PMLA, 2002. In these circumstances, merely because the application in hand is moved by one of the accused persons, the provisions of Section 44(1)(c) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 cannot be altogether ignored with regard to the commitment of the case relating to the scheduled offence to the learned special court which took cognisance of the complaint of the offence of money laundering under Section 44(b) of PMLA 2002."
Consequently, the court directed that the case be shifted to the court of Special Judge Rajiv Goyal, who is already presiding over related proceedings.
Background of the Corruption Case
The corruption case was originally registered by the erstwhile anti-corruption bureau (ACB) of Haryana in April 2023. The accused individuals include:
- Sudhir Parmar, the former special judge of the CBI court
- His nephew, Ajay Parmar
- Roop Bansal, a promoter and owner of the M3M Group
- Lalit Goyal
During the investigation, authorities collected substantial evidence suggesting that Parmar allegedly received undue benefits while serving as a CBI judge. It was revealed that he maintained contact with the owners of the M3M Group through his nephew, Ajay Parmar, and communicated directly with Roop Bansal via various social media platforms.
Legal Proceedings and Developments
After the completion of the investigation, a challan was presented, and the case was assigned to the additional district and sessions court. Copies of the report under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) were duly supplied to all accused persons, including Sudhir Parmar, Ajay Parmar, Roop Bansal, Anil Bhalla, and Lalit Goyal.
In a parallel development, the Special PMLA court, chaired by Judge Rajiv Goyal, has taken cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the ED in the connected money laundering case and has commenced the trial. This overlapping jurisdiction prompted Roop Bansal to file the application for transferring the corruption case to the Special Court, aiming to consolidate the legal proceedings for efficiency and coherence.
The court's decision to transfer the case underscores the intricate interplay between corruption allegations and money laundering investigations, highlighting the judicial system's efforts to streamline complex legal matters involving multiple accused and overlapping charges.
