Case Name : Directorate of Enforcement vs Abdullah Ali Balsharaf & Ors Case Reference: (2019) 3 RCR (Criminal) 566 : MANU/DE/1138/2019 : 2019 SCC OnLine Del 7942 Case Number: LPA 179/2019 Court: Delhi High Court Bench: 02 Coram: Rajendra Menon, Anup Jairam Bhambhani (Author) Date: 15.03.2019
Though CrPC is a general procedural law applicable to all criminal matters, nothing therein is to affect any special law or special jurisdiction or special power or special form of procedure prescribed by any other law that may be in force .
PMLA - Section 65 is a residuary procedural blueprint; and for matters relating to arrest, search, attachment, confiscation, investigation, prosecution and all other proceedings under PMLA, CrPC will apply as long as there is nothing inconsistent with provisions of CrPC and PMLA.
CrPC - Section 102 is to be read to bring it in line with the mandatory requirements of PMLA - Section 17.
The expatiation on reason to believe as under IPC, Section 26 in the context of an accused in Joti Prasad vs State of Haryana also apply to an officer in exercise of their powers.
When a statute stipulates that an action may be taken by an officer only when there is reason to believe to do so; especially when there are stringent procedures laid down, the requirement of having reason to believe must be strictly complied with.
The essence of the definition contained in IPC, Section 26 must inform the interpretation of reason to believe as present in PMLA - Section 17.
The phrase reason to believe has a specific connotation in criminal jurisprudence and is not merely an ordinary and colloquial phrase.
Where a power is given to do a thing in a certain way, the thing must be done in that way or not at all; other methods of performance of that act are necessarily forbidden. This principle applies to a special statute such as PMLA.
The ingredients of PMLA - Section 17 must necessarily and scrupulously be complied with; it is impermissible for seizure to be made by instead relying on CrPC - Section 102.
Whenever there is any provision covering any aspect of proceedings under the PMLA, such provisions would prevail and must be adhered to regardless of any cognate provision contained in the CrPC Where the PMLA does no specific provision on a certain point, the provisions of CrPC may be relied upon as residuary provisions In case of any conflict of contradiction; those contained in the PMLA would prevail and those of the CrPC would yield.
Refer also: Ajmer Singh vs Union of India, (1978) 3 SCC 340 The effect of CrPC - Section 5 is to exclude the application of the Code of Criminal Procedure to any proceedings under any special or local law or any special jurisdiction or form of procedure prescribed by any other law. Gautam Kundu vs DoE, (2015) 16 SCC 1 The conditions under PMLA - Section 45 have to be complied even when an application for bail has been filed under CrPC - Section 439; the latter would therefore have to yield to the former. Joti Prasad vs State of Haryana, (1993) Supp (2) SCC 497 Knowledge is an awareness on the part of the person concerned indicating his state of mind. Knowledge will be slightly on higher plane than reason to believe. Reason to believe is another facet of the state of mind and is not the same thing as suspicion or doubt; mere seeing cannot be equated to believing. Reason to believe is a higher level of state of mind. Reason to believe require that that the circumstances must be such that: 1. a reasonable man would 2. by probable reasoning 3. conclude or infer regarding the nature of the thing circumstances Such circumstances need not be of absolute conviction or inference. It is sufficient if the circumstances are such creating a cause to believe by chain of probable reasoning leading to conclusion or inference about the nature of the thing. Noor Aga vs State of Punjab, (2008) 16 SCC 417 Reason to believe on the part of the officer concerned is essentially a question of fact In the context of NDPS - Section 42, NDPS - Section 43, Customs - 110 Nazir Ahmad vs Emperor, AIR 1963 PC 253
See also: PMLA - Section 2 PMLA - Section 17 PMLA - Section 65 PMLA - Section 71 CrPC - Section 5 CrPC - Section 439 CrPC - Section 482 IPC, Section 26