The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notices to the Punjab government and the director of the Enforcement Directorate, over a criminal petition seeking directions for investigating his complaint against the judge of a Faridkot Court, whom he has accused of allegedly money laundering through acquisition of more than two dozen properties.
The petitioner, Mahavir Kumar of Bathinda, through Senior Advocate Rajwinder Singh Bains and Advocate HC Arora, informed the bench that an identical complaint filed by him on September 23, 2022 against the judicial officer was being considered by the high court on administrative side. The statement and evidence of the petitioner in the said complaint has been recorded, although the final outcome of the said administrative enquiry is not known to him, the petitioner contended.
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The petitioner said that some of the properties were purchased by the judicial officer in the name of his family members, who also did not have any source of income. He alleged that these properties were disproportionate to the judicial officer’s known sources of income.
Hearing the matter, the Bench asked the counsel for the petitioner as to how direction can be issued to the Enforcement Directorate to register a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, in the absence of any FIR having been registered against the concerned judicial officer.
A bench of Justices GS Sandhawalia and Lapita Banerji issued the notices to the respondents for January 24, 2024.