SAFEMA Tribunal upholds NDPS property freeze, ruling bank statements and loan documents insufficient to prove lawful source of funds without full transactional trail.
Incomplete Financial Trail Fails to Rebut NDPS Property Freeze
The SAFEMA Tribunal has dismissed a claimant’s petition to lift the freeze on a property seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), holding that submitted bank statements and loan agreements did not establish a complete and credible chain of legitimate funds.
The claimant argued the property was purchased from known family sources, but the Tribunal found gaps in repayment records, absence of credit trail for disbursed loans, and no corroboration from lenders.
"Isolated documents, without a continuous and verifiable flow of funds, cannot displace the presumption under Section 52 of NDPS Act."
The ruling stresses evidentiary rigor in challenging asset seizures. Practitioners must advise clients to maintain comprehensive, contemporaneous financial documentation to rebut presumptions of illicit origin in scheduled offence cases.
Citations
- NDPS Act, 1985, Section 52
