Overview
- The High Court, in a judgment delivered on November 7, 2026, quashed the Enforcement Directorate’s ECIR against Congress MLA K.Y. Nanjegowda and all consequential PMLA proceedings.
- The court held that PMLA investigations depend on a valid predicate or scheduled offence and cannot continue when that underlying case has been closed or has attained finality.
- Judges found the land‑allotment case that triggered the ED probe had been closed for lack of requisite sanction to prosecute, and that closure removed the legal basis for the ED’s money‑laundering inquiry.
- The bench said Section 66(2) requires the ED to pass information about suspected scheduled offences to the appropriate agency rather than initiate private complaints, and it set aside an Adjudicating Authority order confirming asset seizures and ordered return of seized items.
- The ruling narrows the ED’s investigative reach, undercuts its ability to act as a self‑starting 'super cop,' and is likely to be cited in other challenges where PMLA probes continued after predicate cases were closed.