Bengaluru court sentences ex-excise official to five years, daughter to three years in money laundering case

BENGALURU: A special court in Bengaluru sentenced M Ramachandra to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 years and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh, and his daughter, R Yurekha, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 years and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh for money laundering.

The court said that Ramachandra, by taking undue advantage of his official position in the Department of Excise, had amassed wealth beyond his known sources of income and had not only acquired properties in his name but also in the name of his daughter out of the proceeds of crime in relation to a scheduled offence punishable under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Directly or indirectly, economic offences bleed the economy of the nation and hence are considered white-collar offences, the court added.

Judge Satish J Bali, XLVII Additional City Civil and Sessions Court and Special Judge for CBI Cases, passed the order on Wednesday, sentencing the accused for the offences punishable under Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The court observed that the ED had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused persons had committed the offence of money laundering. On considering the aggravating and mitigating factors, it was noticed that the offence committed by the accused persons could be termed a white-collar offence, which bleeds the economy of the nation. The important aspect of socio-economic offences is to be considered from the point of view of the harm they have caused to society at large, the court added.

Ramachandra (72), who joined the government service as an Excise Guard and retired as an In-charge Sub-Inspector of Excise, City Market Zone, and his daughter Yurekha, who resides in Padmanabhanagar in the city, accused Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, were convicted of the offence of money laundering under Section 3, which is punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA.

The court also passed an order to confiscate the immovable properties acquired by the accused out of the proceeds of crime and transfer them to the Central Government, as contemplated under Section 8(5) of the PMLA. These properties consist of a house in Vijayanagar, Bengaluru, measuring 30×51 sq ft, a three-storey house at the back portion with one BHK each constructed on the above-mentioned site, two residential sites at Halagevaderahalli in Kengeri, and agricultural land measuring 12 guntas situated in Kuttwadi village of Bilikere hobli in Hunsur taluk of Mysuru district.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) registered the complaint following a case registered by the Lokayukta police in 2009 against the accused for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets during the check period from 1977 to 2009. The Lokayukta police filed the charge sheet against the accused in 2012 for an offence involving an amount of Rs 1.79 crore.

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