Trial Before the PMLA Special Court: Prosecution Complaint, the Section 24 Reverse Burden, Sanction, and Disclosure
The ED does not file a chargesheet — it files a “prosecution complaint.” Once the Special Court takes cognizance, an unusual trial begins: the law presumes the proceeds are tainted, and the accused must prove otherwise. Drawing from my PMLA practice, this guide walks the trial stage end to end — Section 44 cognizance, the mandatory pre-cognizance hearing under Section 223 BNSS, the Section 24 reverse burden and how to rebut it, the Section 197 sanction defence for public servants, the right to unrelied documents, and why an accused who was never arrested may not need bail at all — with latest judgments including Tarsem Lal, Kushal Kumar Agarwal, Sarla Gupta, and Bibhu Prasad Acharya.