The Bombay High Court has quashed the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) money laundering case against lawyer Kishor Devani, a close associate of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, granting him major relief in the high-profile investigation.
In its order, a single-judge bench of Justice Ashwin Bhobe set aside the criminal proceedings initiated by the ED as well as the process issued against Devani under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Devani had been accused of assisting Deshmukh and his family in laundering alleged illegal collections amounting to nearly Rs 100 crore per month from Mumbai bar owners.
The ED had alleged that Devani had been a director of M/s Premier Port Links Private Limited since 2009 and that Deshmukh’s wife and son were joint shareholders in the company. According to the agency, the firm received a loan of Rs 100 crore, including Rs 2.20 crore allegedly routed from M/s Flourish Properties Private Limited, an entity linked to the Deshmukh family. The funds were allegedly used to purchase land in Dhutum village as part of a layered money laundering transaction.
However, Devani contended that Premier Port Links was jointly owned, with a 50 per cent stake held by him and the remaining by the Deshmukh family. He argued that the Dhutum village properties were acquired between 2005 and 2007—well before the alleged proceeds of crime, which the ED itself placed between December 2020 and February 2021.
After examining the charge sheets and material on record, Justice Bhobe observed that even if the ED’s allegations were accepted at face value, the purported proceeds of crime arose much later than the property transactions in question. The court found no material to establish a link between the properties purchased in 2005–2007 and the alleged criminal proceeds.
The High Court further held that the ED had failed to demonstrate that Devani knowingly dealt with proceeds of crime, a necessary requirement under Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA. The court also criticised a September 16, 2021 order of a special PMLA court in Mumbai, stating that it lacked proper application of mind and did not satisfy the threshold for initiating proceedings.
Concluding that no prima facie case was made out, the High Court quashed the ED complaint and the process order against Devani, effectively ending the proceedings against him in the case.
