M K Alagiri’s son Dayanidhi Alagiri, and one Nagarajan, both directors of Olympus Granites Pvt Limited, split a division bench of Madras high court as the judges delivered dissenting verdicts on the question of discharge of the accused persons.

Money-laundering case against Alagiri’s son split’s HC bench

Madurai: A money-laundering case involving former Union minister M K Alagiri’s son Dayanidhi Alagiri, and one Nagarajan, both directors of Olympus Granites Pvt Limited, split a division bench of Madras high court as the judges delivered dissenting verdicts on the question of discharge of the accused persons.

While Justice G R Swaminathan allowed a revision petition filed by Nagarajan and remitted it back to the trial court to pass afresh on merits and in accordance with law, Justice R Poornima held that there was prima facie material available to frame charges and dismissed the revision petition.
In 2012, the Keelavalavu police registered a case against the Olympus Granites and its directors — Nagarajan and Dayanidhi — for illegal quarrying in leased govt land with the connivance of govt officials and unlawful usage of explosives to extract multicolour granite thereby causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 256.4 crore to the govt.

Since it disclosed commission of scheduled offences, the then Madurai district superintendent of police forwarded the documents to Enforcement Directorate (ED). Thereafter, the complaint was filed by ED for offence under Section 4 of the PMLA before the II additional district court for CBI cases in Madurai. Nagarajan had filed a petition before the trial court seeking to discharge him from the case, but it was dismissed by the court. Hence the present revision petition.

In his ruling, Justice Swaminathan said there was no demonstration as to how a prima facie case had been made out against the petitioner. “Prosecution under PMLA is a serious thing. Reverse burden is cast on the accused. There are presumptive provisions against the accused. Therefore, the prosecution must establish the foundational facts which show that the offence of money-laundering has been prima facie committed.

Tired of too many ads?
Go Ad Free Now
The trial court was obliged to scan the materials on record and give a finding if there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused. No such exercise appears to have been undertaken by the trial court,” he said.
Also, an order dismissing a discharge petition ought to contain proper reasons, he said, adding, “mere employment of stereotyped expressions would not suffice.” He then set aside the trial court order and remitted it back to the trial court for fresh hearing and orders on merit.

In her dissenting verdict, Justice Poornima said the complaint was filed by the ED based on prima facie materials, including a report by the Madurai district collector about the violation of quarry lease. “The documents relied upon by ED prima facie prove that the accused have indulged involvement in the process of money-laundering activities connected with the crime including acquisitions, possession, use and projecting it as untainted properties,” she said.
At the stage of framing charges, the court has to see whether the material brought on record reasonably connects the accused with the crime, she said, adding that only the prima facie case is to be seen.