New Delhi: In a significant setback to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi has discharged Nitin Bhatnagar, a close associate of Ratul Puri, in a high-profile money laundering case involving Rs 7,979.30 crore linked to Moser Baer India Ltd.
Bhatnagar, who was arrested on August 22 last year, has been cleared of charges, with the court ruling that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against him. The court observed, “The prosecution has failed to make out a prima facie case for framing charges against this accused, for which he was being prosecuted by filing the prosecution complaint. If there is no suspicion, why should the accused go through the rigours of a trial all the way? When there is no iota of legally admissible evidence against him to go to trial, doing so would be itself violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”
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Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa represented Bhatnagar in the case. Bhatnagar, a private banker and founder of Ellington Properties, was accused of facilitating hawala transactions for other co-accused individuals.
The case against Bhatnagar stemmed from an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Moser Baer India Ltd and its directors, alleging criminal conspiracy and defrauding the Central Bank of India of Rs. 354.51 crores. The ED’s case was built on the foundation of this CBI FIR.
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During the investigation, it was uncovered that not only Moser Baer India Ltd (MBIL), but several of its subsidiaries had taken loans, leading to total financial liabilities for the Moser Baer group amounting to Rs. 7,979.30 crores.
Although Rajiv Saxena is also an alleged accused in the case, the special court’s ruling has highlighted the absence of sufficient evidence against Bhatnagar to warrant a trial, effectively discharging him from the charges.