A special court in Jaipur has awarded four years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) to two accused in a PMLA case.
The PMLA court, while handing down the sentence to Rahul Bhardwaj and Mukesh Kumar Bhardwaj, also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.
Furthermore, the court ordered the confiscation of all properties worth Rs 1,55,00,145 that were attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
In the case at hand, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted a search at the residential premises of Rahul Bhardwaj and Mukesh Kumar Bhardwaj.
During the search, they recovered 100.642 kg of ketamine, a psychotropic substance, Rs.70.50 lakhs in cash, two cars, and other miscellaneous incriminating records and electronic equipment.
After investigating the matter, a complaint was filed by the DRI in 2013 before the Special NDPS Court against the accused.
Subsequently, based on this complaint, the ED in Jaipur initiated a money laundering case.
The PMLA investigation revealed that the accused, Rahul Bhardwaj and Mukesh Bhardwaj, were involved in exporting drugs and psychotropic substances, primarily ketamine, mostly to the US through postal parcels.
They would mis-declare the parcels as “documents”, and the accused used various IDs to receive overseas payments sent by the buyers of ketamine through Western Union and MoneyGram.
“During the investigation, properties worth Rs 1,55,00,145 were attached by the ED under the provisions of PMLA, and the same had been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority,” stated the ED.
After completing the investigation, a prosecution complaint was filed on March 30, 2016, before the PMLA court in Jaipur.
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