The Court gave the prima facie finding that both Sana and Koneru had committed the offence of money laundering as per Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“Sathish Babu Sana and Pradeep Koneru have, thus, prima facie committed offence of money laundering as defined in Section 3 of the PMLA, 2002 by directly or indirectly indulging in, knowingly assisting, knowingly a party and actually involved in all or any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition or use and projecting or claiming it as untainted property,” the Bench said.
It said that even though both these accused were arrayed as witnesses in the CBI case, they can be made accused in the money laundering case.
“Having regard to the Supreme Court‟s decision in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary (Supra) and the fact that the petitioners are involved in the case of money laundering, we find that proceedings under PMLA have been rightly initiated against them. The petitioners have challenged their summoning, which in our opinion is just and proper to unearth the roots of the money trail. Finding no merit in the averments raised by the petitioners, these petitions and pending applications are accordingly dismissed,” the Court ultimately said.
However, the Court said that interim protection from coercive action granted to both the accused will continue for the next two weeks.
Source: Barandbench
