Rs 300-cr money laundering case: 6 summoned for Nov 29 hearing

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9

Finding a prima facie case, Jagjit Singh, Special Judge, Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court, Chandigarh, has summoned six accused namely Tina Yashdeep Mehra, Ishatpreet Singh, Sukhwinder Singh Chhabra, Sunil Kataria, Radhika Kirpal and Rohit Manigi in the alleged money laundering case worth nearly Rs300 crore.

In its order, the court said: “In view of the oral and documentary evidence on record of the complainant, which has been collected during the course of investigation, a prima facie case is made out against all accused for proceeding against them for commission of offence under Section 3 punishable under Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Let summons against all accused be accordingly issued for November 29, 2021.”

The Directorate of Enforcement has filed the complaint under Section 45 read with Section 44 of the PMLA, 2002 for the commission of offence under Section 3 read with Section 70 and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA 2002 against the accused.

The CBI, Delhi had registered an FIR on August 8, 2016 under Section 120B read with Section 420 of the IPC and Section 13 (2) read with Section 13(1) (d) of PC Act, 1988, against seven persons, including former officers of Indian Overseas Bank, Chandigarh, and directors of some companies.

After the completion of investigation, a final report was filed by the CBI, New Delhi, before the Court of Special Judge for CBI, Chandigarh, on December 30, 2019, and the court has also framed charges against 11 persons and companies on February 3, 2021.

Enquiries were initiated under the PMLA against the accused persons after recording brief facts of the scheduled offence in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on September 19, 2016.

The court, in the order, says the investigation conducted by the Directorate of Enforcement in this matter has revealed that the main accused, Ashu Mehra, former assistant manager of Indian Overseas Bank, Chandigarh, had fraudulently issued 14 letters of undertaking (LOUs) through SWIFT messages while working with Indian Overseas Bank and the same had resulted in creation of liability to the tune of Rs299 crore on the bank and it is yet to be paid by Indian Overseas Bank to Punjab National Bank, Dubai, and Bank of Baroda, Bahamas.

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