Panaji: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Tuesday granted bail to Rohan Harmalkar in a money laundering case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Single judge Justice S G Chapalgaonkar said that prolonged incarceration without trial progress in predicate offences violates the constitutional right to a speedy trial guaranteed under Article 21.
Harmalkar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 3, 2025, following an investigation into predicate land fraud FIRs filed in 2022 and 2023.
Authorities alleged that Harmalkar headed a syndicate that identified vulnerable properties across Anjuna, Assagao and Parra, generated fake genealogical records and forged historical title deeds, and mutated properties to sell to third parties. The ED provisionally attached proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 209.37 crore.
Harmalkar’s earlier bail plea was rejected in April 2026 after he failed to satisfy the twin conditions under Section 45 of the PMLA. However, the HC re-evaluated the successive application because prosecution assurances were not met.
In earlier proceedings, state authorities and ED counsel assured the court that predicate chargesheets would be submitted and the PMLA trial concluded within four months. Yet, after 15 months of Harmalkar being jailed, state authorities had still not filed a chargesheet, nor had the PMLA trial advanced beyond witness summons.
Relying on Supreme Court benchmarks in V Senthil Balaji, Manish Sisodia and Javed Gulam Nabi Shaikh, the court emphasised that statutory bail restrictions cannot serve as instruments for indefinite detention when trial completion is unlikely within a reasonable time.
The court said that money laundering prosecutions depend on establishing scheduled predicate offences; thus, unexplained, multi-year delays in investigations weaken the presumption under the PMLA Act.
