Madras HC quashes ED case against DMK MP Jagathrakshakan

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has quashed a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against DMK MP S Jagathrakshakan.

The division bench of Justices P N Prakash and RMT Teekaa Raman quashed the proceedings registered by the ED in June 2020 on the basis of two First Information Reports (FIRs) of the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID), while allowing a petition from the Arakkonam constituency MP.

The charge against Jagathrakshakan was that he allegedly usurped the properties of Chrome Leather Factory in Chromepet.

A single judge of the High Court had already in September this year quashed the two FIRs registered by the CB-CID and therefore the ED could not proceed with its case, the judges said. In this connection, they cited a recent ruling of the Apex Court on a similar issue. The ED could not be allowed to proceed further with the investigation which it had initiated solely on the basis of the predicate offence, the judges added.