Chennai: A special court in Chennai has quashed money-laundering proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against four companies linked to coastal energy. Delhi High Court The underlying CBI case alleging supply of substandard coal to NTPC was quashed.The prosecution complaint names Coastal Energy Private Limited, Coastal Energy Private Limited and offshore entities based in Dubai, Mauritius and the British Virgin Islands as accused.According to the court order, the case stems from a complaint by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence alleging that businessman Ahmed AR Buhari supplied substandard coal to the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited.Based on the complaint, the CBI registered a case on January 22, 2018, for offenses including criminal conspiracy, cheating and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The ED filed its enforcement case information report on January 31, 2018, after treating the CBI case as a scheduled offense under the PMLA.The Delhi High Court quashed the CBI FIR in September 2025, finding that investigators failed to establish that Coastal Energy supplied substandard coal or derived illegal benefits from the transactions under investigation. The court also noted that related proceedings and the FIR involving similar allegations had already been closed due to lack of evidence, and held that continuing the criminal case would amount to further harassment.Subsequently, the Madras High Court quashed the PMLA proceedings against accused Ahmed AR Buhari, Precious Energy Holdings Limited and Mutiyara Energy Holdings Limited through separate orders passed between October 2025 and March 2026.While examining whether the proceedings against the remaining accused could continue, J.Omprakash, judge of the additional special court for CBI cases, relied on the Supreme Court judgment in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary which had held that money-laundering proceedings cannot proceed once the prescribed offense has been quashed.The court closed the proceedings against the accused on April 28, but gave liberty to the ED to revive the prosecution if the predicate offense is reinstated later.