In a relief for Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal, the Bombay High Court has quashed the Enforcement Case Information Report’ (ECIR) registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged money laundering case.

The probe agency’s ECIR was based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by police against the Goyals for alleged cheating and forgery on a complaint filed by Akbar Travels in February 2020.

The travel agency had alleged that it suffered a loss of over Rs 46 crore after the airline cancelled flight operations from October 2018. Following the FIR, the ED had registered the ECIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

After hearing both sides, a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan quashed the ECIR registered on February 20, 2020, and all proceedings against the Goyals on the ground of “being illegal and contrary” to law.

In January, the Bombay High Court had told the ED that no coercive action should be taken against them as it heard the duo’s plea for quashing of the ECIR.

Ravi Kadam and AabadPonda, who represented the Goyals, had submitted that the ECIR was registered on the basis of a complaint filed with the Mumbai Police in 2018.

However, in March 2020, the MRA Marg police station filed a closure report stating they found no substance in the complaint and the dispute seemed to be civil in nature.

They added that this report was accepted by a magistrate’s court. The Goyals had, therefore, maintained that the ECIR cannot be sustained given the mandate of the PMLA and it has to be quashed and set aside since there was no predicate offence.

The counsel for the Goyals, citing various judgments by the high court and the Supreme Court, said that once the predicate offence is closed, no fresh actions or investigation can be taken.