Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday refused to quash the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against Yogesh Dua, who was linked to 930 ‘digital arrest' fraud cases, stating that ED was able to explain the 3-day delay in sending the ‘grounds of arrest and reasons to believe' to the adjudicating authority.
Dua was arrested on Feb 23. Based on this FIR, a case was registered by ED on March 24, 2025. After Dua was produced on April 4 in a lower court, he was arrested by ED under PMLA. At the time of arrest, he was informed of both the ‘grounds of arrest' as well as the ‘reasons to believe'. Dua's counsel claimed the section was flouted by ED as, firstly, their ‘reasons to believe' were based on a probe, and the ‘grounds of arrest' as well as the ‘reasons to believe' were sent to the adjudicating authority 3 days later.
Section 19 of the PMLA lays down the process that an officer needs to follow to arrest someone if they have written reasons, based on material in their possession, to believe the person committed a money laundering offence. Section 19(2) of the Act states the arrest order and supporting evidence is forwarded to the adjudicating authority within ‘reasonable time'.
"‘Reasonable time' has been defined as such length of time as may, properly and reasonably be allowed or required, having regard to the nature of the act or duty and to the attending circumstances," Justice Suvra Ghosh noted. In this case, the court held that ED was able to justify the delay as, just after the arrest, there were 2 holidays; hence, the same was forwarded on April 7.