New Delhi, March 5 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed the money-laundering case against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), saying that criminal conspiracy can be a charge under the PMLA only when the conspiracy relates to a crime enlisted as a scheduled offense under the 2000 Act.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan said, given its November 2023 judgment, that criminal conspiracy, which is punishable under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), cannot be the only offense for initiating a money laundering probe.
Taking note of the Supreme Court's judgment in the Pavana Dibbur case, in which another two-judge bench declared that criminal conspiracy can be ...