Police object to transfer of Kodakara robbery case to PMLA court

The Kerala Police have opposed a move by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to transfer the Kodakara hawala cash robbery case to a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), terming it a “misconceived” and “unwarranted attempt” to interfere with the proceedings under the Indian Penal Code.

Deputy Superintendent of Police V K Raju, the investigating officer in the hawala robbery case, objected to ED’s action, claiming that the offenses in this case and those alleged by the central agency are ‘separate and distinct’. Therefore, invoking the PMLA provisions was “entirely without authority or jurisdiction”, the officer said in his objection affidavit filed before a Additional Sessions Court at Irinjalakuda, near here.

The officer argued that the court which has taken cognizance of the planned crime can only transfer it to the special court. In the present case, cognizance of the scheduled offense was not taken by the Additional Sessions Court, Irinjalakuda, which is hearing the case, but by the Principal Sessions Court, Thrissur. Thus, the Additional Sessions Court does not have the statutory jurisdiction to transfer the case to the Special Court under the PMLA.

The officer further submitted that the ED has not produced any charge sheet, final report or complaint under the PMLA before the Additional Sessions Court to show that the special court has taken cognizance. “Unless this fundamental requirement is met, the ED cannot, by mere assertions, attempt to bring this matter within the ambit of the PMLA. The inability to file even a basic complaint or cognizance order in the case in hand makes the present petition entirely speculative, unsupported by legal material, and incapable of convincing this court to exercise the binding power under law,” the officer said in his affidavit.

He further alleged that the hearing of the case in the sessions court was at an advanced stage and that any attempt to transfer the case at the initiative of a third agency, which has no investigative role in the case, would “cause serious prejudice to the prosecution.”

“In view of the foregoing submissions, it is very humbly and respectfully submitted that the current request of the ED has no legal basis at all and is liable to be dismissed at the doorstep,” the officer said.

The ED has argued in its petition that the trial of the scheduled violation case and the PMLA case should be conducted simultaneously. She has sought transfer of the Hawala cash robbery case to the special court in Ernakulam.

Police have said that 23 people have been arrested in connection with the highway robbery and as part of it, ₹1,58,48,801 has been recovered.

The Kodakara black money case revolves around a robbery on April 3, 2021 in Kodakara, Thrissur, just three days before the Kerala Assembly elections. Police investigation revealed that ₹3.5 crore, allegedly transported to Ernakulam to fund the poll campaign, was looted when a gang staged a fake accident near Kodakara to intercept the vehicle carrying the money.

However, according to a complaint filed by Shamjeer Samsudheen, from whose car the money was looted, ₹25 lakh was robbed from his vehicle by the gang when he was on his way to Kochi from Kozhikode.