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TMI Blog2022 (8) TMI 252X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... riplani, who has already been granted bail by this Court - applicant himself had been granted anticipatory bail by this Court - the department had initiated proceedings on 31.12.2019 by issuing a summons under Section 70 of CGST Act and after completion of the investigation, on 22.11.2021 the department has filed a complaint in the Court of Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Agra and, therefore, it cannot be said that now the applicant is in a position to influence the investigation of the case - the applicant is languishing in jail since 26-09-2021; (6) the maximum punishment that can be imposed upon the applicant is five years' imprisonment - the offence is compoundable as per the provision contained in Section 138 of the CGST Act, the applicant is entitled to be released on bail. Let the applicant be released on bail - the instant bail application is allowed. - CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 54497 of 2021 - - - Dated:- 3-8-2022 - Hon'ble Subhash Vidyarthi , J. For the Applicant : Kaustubh Srivastava, Kandarp Srivastava For the Opposite Party : A. S. G. I., Dhananjay Awasthi ORDER 1. Heard Sri Ashish Deep Verma and Sri Azad Khan, Advocate ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the applicant, indicating the applicant's control over the fake firms. A currency note counting machine, a printer and a router were also recovered from the premises of the applicant. 5. As a result of the simultaneous searches conducted at 4 locations of the applicant on 20.12.2019 and also upon investigation, it was found that 126 fake firms have been created by the applicant and Chandra Prakash Kriplani and bogus invoices were issued by the aforesaid firms for passing on inadmissible input tax credit to various purchasers, without any actual supply of goods. 6. As per the prosecution case, it has been revealed during investigation that the total invoice value of the fake supplies made by the aforesaid 126 bogus firms is Rs. 691.35 Crores and the total GST evasion involved in it is Rs. 100.30 Crores. 7. In his statement recorded on 20.12.2019, the aforesaid Chandra Prakash Kriplani stated that he was working as an employee of the applicant for the past 6-7 months and the applicant used to pay him Rs. 20,000/- per month as salary; that he had studied upto class-X only and that he used to generate e-way bills on the directions of the applicant. In his further statemen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... idavit filed in support of the bail application, it has been stated that the applicant was engaged in the business of property dealing through his firm Shri Shanti Associates. On 31.12.2019, a summons under Section 70 read with Section 174 of CGST, 2017 was issued against the applicant directing him to appear at the Anti Evasion Branch, Central Goods Services Tax Central Excise, Commissionerate Agra on 03.01.2020. A similar notice was issued against the applicant's wife and her statement was also recorded. The applicant claims that Chandra Prakash Kriplani was his tenant and a copy of an affidavit dated 14.01.2020 of Chandra Prakash Kriplani has been annexed with the affidavit filed in support of the bail application wherein he has stated that he was a tenant of the applicant, that he could not pay rent of the house for the past two months because of which a quarrel took place between him and the applicant, that on 16.12.2019 when the applicant had come to recover the rent, the dispute escalated and the applicant had taken away a bag of Kriplani which contained some documents and Kriplani's mobile phone and the documents and the mobile phone recovered by the officers of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for the aforesaid offence and that he is entitled to be released on bail on this ground also. 17. The learned Counsel for the applicant has further submitted that earlier, this Court had granted anticipatory bail to the applicant by means of an order dated 05-01-2021 passed in Anticipatory Bail Application No. 4116 of 2020, for a period of six weeks or till conclusion of the enquiry under Section 70 (1) of the CGST Act, whichever was earlier. 18. The Learned counsel for the applicant has also submitted that the co-accused Chandra Prakash Kriplani, from whose possession the alleged incriminating material was recovered, has already been released on bail and, therefore, the applicant is also entitled to be released on bail on the ground of parity. 19. The learned Counsel for the applicant has further submitted that in para 2.3 of the complaint, it has been alleged that a currency note counting machine, a printer and a router were also recovered from the premises of the applicant, where the co-accused Chandra Prakash Kriplani was found present and from the aforesaid recovery the Prosecution assumed that black money generated from the alleged fake firms was counted by the note ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Union of India has placed reliance on a judgment in the case of Chhaya Devi Vs. Union of India, 2021 (52) GSTL 390 (Alld.), wherein a coordinate Bench of this Court held as follows: - 14. The offence alleged against the applicant is economic offence in which the evasion of duty amounting Rs. 62,10,28,165/- is made against the applicant. Although the offence is punishable with imprisonment of five years yet the evasion of huge amount of duty is a great loss to the Government Exchequer. As such the alleged offence is economic. 15. The Hon'ble Apex Court in State of Gujrat Vs. Mohanlal Jitamalji porwal and others (1987) 2 SCC 364 in para-5 held that the entire Community is aggrieved if the economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to books. A murder may be committed in the heat of moment upon passions being aroused. An economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the Community. A disregard for the interest of the Community can be manifested only at the cost of forfeiting the trust and faith of the Community in the system to administer justice in an eve ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... undable as per the provision contained in Section 138 of the CGST Act, sub-Section (1) whereof provides that Any offence under this Act may, either before or after the institution of prosecution, be compounded by the Commissioner on payment, by the person accused of the offence, to the Central Government or the State Government, as the case be, of such compounding amount in such manner as may be prescribed . 26. The learned counsel for the applicant has placed reliance on a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dataram Singh Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and another, (2018) 3 SCC 22, wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court was pleased to reiterate the law of bail in the following words: - 2. A fundamental postulate of criminal jurisprudence is the presumption of innocence, meaning thereby that a person is believed to be innocent until found guilty. However, there are instances in our criminal law where a reverse onus has been placed on an accused with regard to some specific offences but that is another matter and does not detract from the fundamental postulate in respect of other offences. Yet another important facet of our criminal jurisprudence is that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... will govern the field:-- Precedents - P. Chidambaram v. Directorate of Enforcement, (2020) 13 SCC 791: 23. Thus, from cumulative perusal of the judgments cited on either side including the one rendered by the Constitution Bench of this Court, it could be deduced that the basic jurisprudence relating to bail remains the same inasmuch as the grant of bail is the rule and refusal is the exception so as to ensure that the accused has the opportunity of securing fair trial. However, while considering the same the gravity of the offence is an aspect which is required to be kept in view by the Court. The gravity for the said purpose will have to be gathered from the facts and circumstances arising in each case. Keeping in view the consequences that would befall on the society in cases of financial irregularities, it has been held that even economic offences would fall under the category of grave offence and in such circumstance while considering the application for bail in such matters, the Court will have to deal with the same, being sensitive to the nature of allegation made against the accused. One of the circumstances to consider the gravity of the offence is also the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ieve the accused of imprisonment, to relieve the State of the burden of keeping him, pending the trial, and at the same time, to keep the accused constructively in the custody of the court, whether before or after conviction, to assure that he will submit to the jurisdiction of the court and be in attendance thereon whenever his presence is required. xxxxxxxxx 46. We are conscious of the fact that the accused are charged with economic offences of huge magnitude. We are also conscious of the fact that the offences alleged, if proved, may jeopardise the economy of the country. At the same time, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the investigating agency has already completed investigation and the charge-sheet is already filed before the Special Judge, CBI, New Delhi. Therefore, their presence in the custody may not be necessary for further investigation. We are of the view that the appellants are entitled to the grant of bail pending trial on stringent conditions in order to ally the apprehension expressed by CBI. (emphasis supplied) 28. Analyzing the facts of the case in light of the law laid explained in the case of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Dataram Singh and Satend ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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