RANCHI, Dec. 23 -- Jharkhand High Court has dismissed a petition filed by IAS officer Pooja Singhal seeking to quash the 'cognisance order' in a money laundering case, ruling that prior sanction under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was not required for prosecution in cases involving personal 'illegal acts'.

In the ruling passed on Monday, the bench of justice Ambuj Nath also underlined that sanction could be obtained at any stage before the pronouncement of the judgment.

Singhal had filed the petition for quashing the cognisance order of July 19, 2022 by the PMLA court in Ranchi in connection with ECIR Case 03 of 2018. She had submitted that cognisance of the offences under sections-3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laun...