Accused is entitled to copies of complaint and prosecution documents before cognizance under Section 223 BNSS.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a complaint under Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA against 25 parties, including the applicants, based on an investigation into a bank fraud involving Rs. 1036.43 crores

The complaint included 81 documents totaling 2231 pages

The Special Judge issued notices to the accused under Section 223(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS)

The applicants moved for copies of the complaint and its annexures to prepare for the hearing, but the trial court rejected the request on January 13, 2026, holding that an accused is only entitled to documents after the court takes cognizance of the offence

Whether an accused person is entitled to be supplied with copies of the complaint and relied-upon documents at the pre-cognizance stage under the proviso to Section 223 of the BNSS

Proviso to Section 223 of the BNSS, which mandates that no Magistrate shall take cognizance of an offence on a complaint without giving the accused an opportunity of being heard

Sarla Gupta v. Directorate of Enforcement (2025) 7 SCC 626, which established that principles of fair play and Article 21 require an accused to have access to all prosecution materials to defend themselves

Kushal Kumar Agarwal v. Enforcement Directorate (2025) 1221 SC, confirming that BNSS applies to PMLA complaints filed after July 1, 2024

Basanagauda R. Patil v. Shivananda S. Patil (2024) regarding the mandatory nature of pre-cognizance hearings

The Court reasoned that while the Cr.P.C. (specifically Section 200) did not provide for a hearing at the pre-cognizance stage, the BNSS has introduced a specific legislative deviation via the proviso to Section 223

The Court observed that for an "opportunity of being heard" to be meaningful and not an "empty formality," the accused must be aware of the material the prosecution relies upon to persuade the Court against taking cognizance

Although the Sarla Gupta judgment was delivered in the context of the Cr.P.C. (post-cognizance), its principles of fair play and the right to a fair trial under Article 21 must be extended to the new statutory pre-cognizance hearing under the BNSS

Consequently, the restricted interpretation that documents can only be supplied post-cognizance (under Section 231 BNSS) was rejected as it would render the mandatory hearing under Section 223 redundant

It held that the proviso to Section 223 of the BNSS applies to PMLA complaints, and at the pre-cognizance stage, the Special Judge is directed to provide the accused with: (i) statements of the complainant/witnesses recorded by the Judge, (ii) all documents/statements (including Section 50 PMLA statements) filed with the complaint, and (iii) copies of any supplementary complaints/documents