A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court on Monday referred to a larger Bench questions pertaining to the arrest of an accused in a money laundering case.
The issue concerns two provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) relating to the power to arrest a person and the need to supply the grounds of arrest to him under Section 19 and whether the offence is cognisable or non-cognisable under Section 45.
A Bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and I. S. Mehta said it did not concur with the view taken by another Division Bench of the High Court on Section 19 of the PML Act.
The Bench said it has a view different from the other bench which interpreted Section 19 in the case of businessman Moin Akhtar Qureshi and Vakamulla Chandrashekhar holding that the phrase ‘as soon as may be’ in the provision implies that the grounds of arrest need not be supplied at the time of arrest and the failure to do so would not render the arrest illegal.
