A

IN THE HIGH COURT OF mDICATUREAT BOMBAY

CRlMINAL APPELLATE JURlSDICTION
CRlMINAL WRlT PETITION VIS. 482 NO. _ _ _OF 2023

Vihaan Direct Selling India Pvt. Ltd ... Petitioner

Versus

State of Maharashtra & Ors ... Respondents

SYNOPSIS

I. Challenge in Brief

The Petitioner, by way of the present Writ Petition under Article 226
of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), is questioning the correctness,
legality and validity of the searches conducted by Respondent No.1 at
the residential premises of its Director and its warehouses on
17.01.2023 and 25.01.2023, i.e., after 10 years of the registration of
ECIR, bearing no. ECIRIMBZO-1I15/2013. The Petitioner is also
seeking quashing of the orders dated 17.01.2023, passed under Section
17(1A) of the PMLA, as intimated vide an e-mail dated 30.01.2023,
to freeze the Petitioner's 8 bank accounts as well as the sealing of its
warehouse, based on mere drawing of a panchanma dated 25.01.2023.

II. List of Dates

Sr. Date Events Exhibit Page

No. No/s. No/s.
1. 16.08.2013 An FIR bearing no. 316/2013 for the
scheduled offences was lodged on the
complaint of one Gurupreet Singh Anand,
 B

where the Petitioner was arrayed as

Accused No.2.
Based on the afore-said FIR for scheduled
offences, the ECIR was registered under
the PMLA by the ED.

2. 15.02.2017 The Hon'ble High Court of Kamataka

upheld the business model of the
Petitioner Company in Criminal Petition
No. 9308 of 2016 (Naresh
Balasubramaniam vs. State of Karnataka
andAnr.

3. 27.03.2017 The Hon'ble Supreme Court stayed the

proceeding in at least 19 FIRs, including
the afore-mentioned FIR, in Writ Petition
(Crl.) No. 31 of2017.

4. 25.01.2019 The Hon'ble Supreme Court passed an

order of no coercive action in ·at least 60
similar FIRs involving the Petitioner
Company in a Writ Petition (Crl) no. 17 of
2019.

5. 17.01.2023 Respondent No.1 conducted search at the

residential premises of the Director of the
Petitioner Company and at least 8 bank
accounts of the Petitioner Company were
frozen.
6. 25.01.2023 The warehouses of the Petitioner
Company were searched and sealed.

7. 27.01.2023 Summons were issued to the Director of

the Petitioner Company.

8. 30.01.2023 The Petitioner was informed about the

freezing of the bank accounts vide an e-
mail.

9. 31.01.2023 A writ petition bearing No. 2567 of 2023

was filed before the Hon'ble Court of
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Kamataka by the Petitioner Company

against the afore-said illegal searches and
seizure.

10. 28.02.2023 The afore-said writ petition was dismissed

on the ground of jurisdiction.

Hence the present Writ Petition

Points to be urged:

(a) That the very foundation of the afore-mentioned searches, freezing of

bank accounts and sealing of warehouse is illegal;

(b) That the arbitrary and illegal freezing of the bank accounts and sealing
of the warehouses of the Petitioner Company has led to complete
shutdown of its day-to-day business;

(c) That ECIR itself needs to be quashed which is not only based on the
scheduled offences, already under stay, but also based on a completely
wrong understanding of the business model of the Petitioner Company

Acts: The Constitution of India

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Authorities: Vijay Madan Lal Choudhary vs. Union of India

(2022) SCC Online SC 929

For, Agrud Partners

Advocates for the Petitioner