Special NIA Court Allows ED To Record Bhima Koregaon Accused Surendra Gadling's Statement In PMLA Case

Special Judge Rajesh Katariya passed the order on ED's plea seeking to record Gadling's statement under section 50(2) of the PMLA Act inside Taloja Prison. The agency has been allowed to record his statement on 17,18 and 19 August, 2022.

Gadling, a Nagpur based lawyer was arrested in 2018 and is lodged in prison since then. Appearing as 'party in person', he vehemently opposed the plea.

Gadling cited SC's judgment in Vijay Chowdhary Case, in which the apex court held that proceeds of crime is a condition precedent for invoking PMLA.

He argued that the NIA which investigated the case for almost four years have made no mention about funds being recovered from him.

"In the entire chargesheet the NIA hasn't made any mention of unaccounted money found or any links thereof. If the predicate offence has no mention of "funding" allegations, how is that the Enforcement Directorate probing the money laundering charges," Gadling argued.

Gadling said that the agency has made false statements about fictitious accounts. When searches were carried out at his home before the arrest, no such fictitious accounts were found. 

On the contrary, the agency represented by SPP Sunil Gonsalves submitted that Gadling is a "prime suspect" and an active member of the CPI (Maoist). They claim he was involved in fund raising for the banned terror outfit and for disbursement of those funds. "He was involved in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad procession dated December 31, 2017," ED's application read.

The NIA booked sixteen activists for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and accused them of furthering the banned CPI (Maoist)'s agenda to overthrow the government.

It is the ED's claim that UAPA is within the agency's purview of investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. 

The NIA claims that the Elgar Parishad event organised on December 31, 2017 by front organisations of CPI(Maoist) was responsible for the caste violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018 in which one person died and several others were injured.

The case is primarily based on electronic evidence recovered from Gadling and co-accused researcher Rona Wilson's laptop. However, the arrested activists claim that incriminating material was planted on laptop, based on several independent forensic analysis reports.

Gadling faces charges under sections 121, 121A, 124A, 153A, 505(1)(b), 117, 120b r/w 34 of the IPC and sections 13,16,17,18,18-B,20,38,39 and 40 of the UAPA along with 15 other activists. Father Stan Swamy, the 16th accused to be arrested, passed away on July 5.

Last year, the Bombay High Court granted Gadling nine days of interim bail to complete his mother's funeral rights, nearly a year after her demise. Since then, Gadling's default bail applications have been rejected by both – the Sessions court as well as the High Court.