In Brief
Journalist Rana Ayyub challenged a Special Court summons in Ghaziabad alleging lack of territorial jurisdiction. The Enforcement Directorate had registered a money-laundering complaint based on her crowdfunding campaigns. The Supreme Court held that under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, the Special Court where the money-laundering offence occurred has primacy; the trial of predicate offences must follow it, not vice versa. Since the proceeds were acquired through online transfers from unknown locations and possessed in Mumbai, the precise places where money-laundering activities occurred required factual investigation. The Court dismissed the writ petition, allowing Ayyub to raise the jurisdiction issue with evidence before the trial court, finding territorial jurisdiction cannot be determined in a writ petition when factual disputes exist.
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