The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a joint anticipatory bail petition filed by drug smuggling accused Bezos alias J. Ameena Banu, 32, wife of A. Jaffar Sadiq, and brother A. Mohamed Saleem, 34, fearing arrest in a money laundering case booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Justice T.V. Thamilselvi refused to grant the relief to the petitioners following vehement objection raised by ED special public prosecutor N. Ramesh. The SPP accused the two petitioners of having misrepresented the facts of the case in order to obtain the relief by misleading the court.
He said the Narcotics Contro Bureau sleuths in New Delhi had seized 50 kg of pseudoephedrine on February 15 and arrested five suspects including the first petitioner’s husband. According to the NCB, Sadiq was the mastermind of the entire drug syndicate that had been busted.
The NCB had completed its investigation and filed a complaint under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act before a special court at Patiala House Court in New Delhi. Apart from this, Sadiq and his brother Saleem (second petitioner) were booked in another drug case in Mumbai.
The Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (Export) at the Air Cargo in Mumbai had booked the case in 2019 for attempting to export 36.687 kg of Ketamine, worth about ₹20 crore in the international market, by concealing it in the cavities of a cardboard containing bangles.
Further, the Chennai Customs too had booked a case in 2015 for exporting 50 kg pseudoephedrine. This case was booked against Sada alias S.G. Sadanandan who belonged to the cartel led by Sadiq and was also an arrested accused in the 2024 case booked by the NCB in New Delhi.
Since the provisions invoked by the NCB and the Customs were scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002, the ED had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on March 11, 2024 and searched the premises linked with Sadiq.
Mr. Ramesh said the examination of several persons by the ED revealed that Sadiq had masterminded the drug trade by exporting it to various countries such as Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand in guise of dessicated coconut, soda ash, bangles, floor mats and health mix.
Sadiq had opened multiple bank accounts in the name of proxy entities and transacted crores of rupees. The money had been laundered for purchase of movable and immovable properties in the names of his wife and brother and invested in movie production too, the SPP told the court.
Stating that the two petitoners were summoned for questioning by the ED, he said they were unable to give any plausible explanation for more than ₹20 crore of cash deposits made in various bank accounts. “The only conclusion that could be drawn is that the drug money had been laundered,” he said.
The SPP also pointed out that any person who assists another person in laundering the proceeds of a crime and project it as untainted money would also be guilty of the offence of money laundering. He relied upon a Supreme Court ruling that anticipatory bail in such cases should be granted only in exceptional circumstances.
