Bombay HC quashes ED case against former Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal, wife Anita

In a relief for former Jet Airways chairman, Naresh Goyal, the Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case against him and his wife, Anita.

ECIR "illegal and contrary to law": SC

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan quashed the ECIR dated February 20, 2020, the investigation and all proceedings and actions emanating from the ECIR against Goyals on the ground of being "illegal and contrary to law".

The HC quashed the ECIR while hearing a petition filed by Goyals.

The ED registered the ECIR on the basis of a First information report (FIR) lodged by the Mumbai police in 2018 for cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint filed by Akbar Travels.

The travel agent alleged that it had suffered a loss of over ₹ 46 crores after the airline company cancelled flight operations from October 2018.

However, the Mumbai police filed a closure report in the case stating that it did not find any substance in the criminal complaint and the dispute seemed to be civil in nature.

The closure report was accepted by the Metropolitan Magistrate Court. The same was upheld by the Supreme Court, despite opposition by the ED.

Goyals then approached the HC seeking quashing of the ECIR since the predicate offence was itself not made out. Last month, the HC had restrained the ED from taking any coercive action against the Goyals.

ECIR cannot be squashed: ED

The ED contended that the ECIR could not be quashed as it was an internal, private ‘piece of paper which could not be considered a statutory document.

The court, however, pointed out the statement made by the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in Supreme Court in another case that after acceptance of closure report in predicate offence, an ECIR by ED would not survive.

Dismissing the ED’s arguments, the HC then quashed the ECIR.