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TMI Blog2024 (9) TMI 1226X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e sheet, found unusual and unexplained transactions which indicate some illegal activity as showing involvement of the applicants in the criminal offence. Fraudsters, like all the alleged accused in the present case set up companies only on paper to generate fake transactions and claim ITC. Such companies are abandoned or shutdown after a short period. The present case relates to economic offences. Such offence like large scale fraud, money laundering and corruption, are often viewed seriously because they affect the economic fabric of the society. The Courts may deny bail in such cases especially if the accused holds a position of influence or power. In the present case, money trail of crores, which affects the society at large scale, is involved which started from registration of fake firms by using Aadhaar and PAN Cards of the informant who had not applied for such registration. The Apex Court in the case of Prahlad Singh Bhati v. NCT, Delhi and another [ 2001 (3) TMI 1053 - SUPREME COURT ], has held that while granting bail, the court has to keep in mind nature of accusations, nature of evidence in support thereof, severity of punishment which conviction will entail, the charac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hese have been applied on informant s PAN AUSPD7067N (Exhibit 1) and bear his name, Saurabh Dwivedi as legal name of the business entity. The details of both the registrations from GST portal are enclosed as Exhibit 2 to the complaint. The registered address mentioned for the given two registrations are as under (a) 03AUSPD7067N1Z3 having registered address as 787, Ground Floor, Railway Office, ATI Road, Ludhiana, Punjab, 141008, (b) 27AUSPD7067N1ZT having registered address as 172, Sau Alakatal Uttamrao Nikalaje Path, Solapur, Solapur, Maharashtra, 413003. These have not been obtained with his consensus and he is totally unaware of the person who applied for these registrations and whose contact details are updated in these GST registrations. It is also mentioned that the two registrations are already authenticated for Aadhaar verification whereas as on date no email ID and mobile number is linked with his Aadhaar. Copy of Aadhaar Card along with screenshot showing the absence of any email ID or mobile number in Aadhaar details is enclosed as Exhibit. Further it has been learnt that similar registration has been applied in the UT of Delhi, however, the same got rejected by the GST ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e complaint dated 04.08.2023 filed by DGGI, Meerut in the court of Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Meerut bearing Case No. 1942 of 2023. In the said complaint it was alleged that M/s Good Health Industries Pvt. Ltd., the Company where husband of the applicant - Kanika Dhingra, works as a consultant, had transactions with M/s AKS Traders which in turn had transactions with M/s YOYO Traders. 7. Learned counsel for the applicants submits that the case-diary of Case Crime No. 203 of 2023 consists of 70 parchas, wherein investigation as conducted from 04.05.2023 to 29.08.2023 does not mention names of YOYO Traders and M/s AKS Traders. The same is situation in the case diary of Case Crime No. 248 of 2023, wherein investigation was conducted from 01.06.2023 to 29.08.2023 containing 63 parchas and also that in the case of Case Crime No. 255 of 2023, wherein 51 parchas were there, investigation has been conducted from 08.06.2023 to 29.08.2023. 8. It appears that taking a clue from the complaint of GST, the Investigating Officer has forwarded CD Parcha No. 59 wherein he records that M/s YOYO Traders passed on input tax credit to M/s AKS Traders and M/s AKS Traders passed on input tax cred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed from M/s Good Health Industries Pvt. Ltd. to M/s Radhey Krishna Marketing (firm of Mayank Dhingra). The aforesaid amount was paid by M/s Good Health to M/s Radhey Krishna Marketing against the supply of milk, which is an exempted item under GST, made by M/s Radhey Krishna Marketing which was in turn purchased by its own vendors. It is relevant to point out that payments made by applicant's (Mayank Dhingra's) firm to its vendors have already been demonstrated in the balance sheet annexed in bail application. 13. The Investigating Officer has recorded that Rs. 16.35 crore have been transferred to Kanika Dhingra from M/s Radhey Krishna Marketing, which is the firm of Mayank Dhingra, through on-line mode and Mayank Dhingra has received back the adjusted amount. 14. Except the aforesaid, there is no evidence against the applicant - Kanika Dhingra in the entire case diary constituting any offence of cheating anybody or forging/ manipulating any documents or hatching any conspiracy whatsoever. There being no evidence of cheating anybody or forging any document, the applicants are entitled to be released on bail. 15. The applicants have been arrested on 30.04.2024 without there ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ST Department. He has drawn attention of the court to bail order dated 03.08.2023 passed in the case of Sanjay Dhingra i.e. Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 32951 of 2023 , Sanjay Dhingra v. Union of India and another. 20. Insofar as transfer of money is concerned, money came from the company of applicant s son. Sanjay Dhingra s Company has 5000 vendors. Money was deposited in Mayank Dhingra s Company because milk was transacted by his Company. Transaction reveals that son gave money to his mother, which has been returned to Mayank Dhingra s account. 21. Learned Senior Advocate argues that transfer of money from Radhey Krishna Marketing to Kanika Dhingra s account and returning it back does not amount to any offence. 22. Sri Manish Goel, learned Additional Advocate General assisted by Sri Amit Singh Chauhan, AGA-I, Sri Nitesh Srivastava, learned AGA and Sri Mayank Awasthi, learned Brief Holder, appearing for the State submits that nucleus of the entire issue is that there is a Press Reporter. He says that his PAN Card was misused and on the basis of his PAN Card two Firms were registered. Thus, offence under the provisions of IPC stands committed. On the basis of these fake firm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... linked with the Aaadhaar. E. Learned Additional Advocate General submits that the informant finds his name as a business entity. There are already two registrations for which he has never applied and there are two different addresses which have been shown. The informant in the FIR has emphatically stated that he never applied for such registrations and there is no consensus on his part. It is also stated that similar registration has been applied in the UT of Delhi, however, same has been rejected by the GST authorities. F. Mr. Goel submits that the argument with regard to applicability of the provisions of GST Act, the informant levelled allegations of misusing his Aadhaar and PAN Cards for GST registration, thus, FIR has rightly been lodged under the relevant Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC. G. With regard to arguments of learned counsel for the applicants that once chargesheet has been submitted in economic offence, the person should be released, learned AAG contends that each economic offence has distinct parameter while consideration of bail, which can be summarized in three counts: (i) Gravity of Economic Offence, (ii) Impact, if the person is released on bail or the person ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion forms part of C.D. Parcha No. 4, whereafter informer as per CD Parcha No. 5 disclosed the names of Deepak Murjhani and Yaseen Sheikh found to have been involved in the crime. (iii) CD-Parcha No. 7 says that on the aforesaid information, police arrested Ashwani Pandey and Yaseen Sheikh along with the recovery of incriminating materials i.e. SIM Cards of different companies, laptops, Aadhaar Cards, PAN Cards. On being checked the laptop, a master file contained in folder at the desktop, names of 1891 GST firms in various names were found, and in another master sheet contained in a separate folder there were details of 680 GST firms. In the said sheet, name of firms mentioned in the FIR were also found. On the pointing out of Ashwani Pandey and Yaseen Sheikh, the investigating team reached at Madhu Vihar office, where accused Deepak Murjhani, Akash Saini, Vishal Singh, Atul Sengar, Rajiv, Vineet were found and arrested along with huge amount of money and documents relating to fake GST firms. Copy of recovery memo was duly received by the accused persons putting their signatures thereon. The arrested accused persons, in their confessional statements, disclosed names of Anchit Goya ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hows the accused impersonated himself to be Rajnish Kumar Jha, thus it is a connecting chain in the commission of present offence. The information forms the part of CD Parch No. 17 (12.06.2023). (ix) In C.D. Parcha No. 18 (13.06.2023) the Investigating Officer found that fake GST firm - Tam Enterprises mentioned in the FIR does not exist at given address of Ludhiyana, Punjab, whereas at the relevant place there exists a shop in the name of Kings Footwear being run by one Prabhujeet Singh. (x) C.D. Parcha No. 22, dated 23.06.2023, shows arrest of Atul Gupta, Sumit Garg alias Chacha and Mannan Singhal along with recovery at two instance of various fake invoices and cars, from which documents relating to A.K. Enterprises were found. Two separate recovery memos were given to the arrested accused persons which bear their signatures. Statements of aforesaid accused persons were recorded, who revealed names of Goldi, Anchit, Anshul, Pradeep Goyal, Praveen, Banti, Puneet, Ishwar, Vikas Dabbas and Sanjay Garg, Mayur alias Mani Nagpal, Charu Nagpal, Rohit Nagpal, Deepak Singhal, Peetam, Mintu, Montu, Ashish, Nandlal, Mahesh, Gaurav Nagpal and Sahil, and admitted to have been working together ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ni and Dolsy Murjhani. During his confessional statement, he has stated that the mobile recovered was to be returned to Deepak Murjhani as it is used for the purposes of obtaining OTP in registration firms, as also used in collection of payment from the customers. (xix) In the C.D. Parcha No. 49 the Investigating Officer mentioned details of bank accounts of accused persons. (xx) In the C.D. Parcha No. 53 the Investigating Officer found the tax invoice of Gurmet Singh Batra to be fabricated. (xxi) C.D. Parcha No. 55 mentions that DGI, Ghaziabad Unit has provided list of 1192 PAN Cards and on verification from the PAN Card holders they denied knowledge of any such registration of firms. (xxii) C.D. Parcha Nos. 61 to 65 the Investigating Officer recorded statements of affected persons and victims, in whose names fake GST firms have been registered. (xxiii)C.D. Parcha No. 69 shows that IMEI Numbers of recovered mobile phones from accused persons were sent to respective companies, namely, AirTel, Jio, Vodafone Idea and on being run it was found that said mobiles with certain IMEI numbers were used in registration of a number of fake firms. They provided information that the mobile (IME ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that I.O. verified about whereabouts of the company but found the company YOYO Traders non-existent, further it was revealed that at the office of M/s Good Health Industries Pvt. Ltd. situated at F-82, Shivaji Palace, Rajauri Garden, Delhi, accused Sanjay Dhingra is not present since 15-20 days and the name of the Company has been changed to Live Light. Thereafter, statements of employees of the Company were recorded. They stated to have never seen Sukhveer Yadav and Rajesh Yadav who are also said to be Director of M/s Good Health and they use to report to Sanjay Dhingra who is owner of the said firm. Further, the complicity of Kanika Dhingra and Mayank Dhingra came to light. (xxx) In C.D. Parcha No. 81 the I.O. recorded arrest of Ashish Allavadi along with the recovery of driving licence of accused Mannan Singhal and voter I.D. of Baldev. In his statement, Ashish stated that he used to bring payment of GST commissions and he has confessed the names of his cousin brother Amit alias Montu, Arjit, Anchit, Atul, Mannan, Baldev, Nandlal, Ajay, Ishwar, Sanjay Garg, Gaurav Singhal, Preetam alias Chacha and others in the commission of the offence. (xxxi) C.D. Parcha No. 82 shows the entry ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with 20 pendrives, 1 box with one POS machine, and 45 SIM Cards, 12 PAN Cards, 10 Aadhaar Cards and 29 Credit Cards, 1000 fake documents relating to GST firms were recovered and sealed. From the confessional statements of arrested accused, complicity of accused Sachin, Babar, Parmeshwar and Nishant Agarwal came into light. (xxxvi) C.D. Parcha No. 107 shows the entry of bank account of accused persons wherein concerned GST ITC transaction was found, as such the accounts were requested to be ceased by the Bank under Section 102(1) Cr.P.C. (xxxvii) C.D. Parcha No. 119 shows the arrest of accused Vikas Dabas and in his confessional statement he disclosed that he along with other persons, at the office of Arjit, Anchit and Pradeep Goyal, used to transfer the said GST firms bills to different places and receive commission thereof. Further, he disclosed the family of Archit and Anchit is mainly involved in this offence and all other accused are involved in different aspects of commission of crime. (xxxviii) C.D. Parcha No. 125 (09.03.2024) reveals that against the absconding accused (1) Anchit Goyal, (2) Pradeep Goyal, (3) Arjit Goyal, (4) Baldev alias Balli, (5) Rohit Nagpal proceedings ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cates that the accused Sanjay Dhingra along with Mayank Dhingra Kanika Dhingra were arrested by the police from Delhi on 30.04.2024. At their instance/ possession, 7 mobile phones, 1 tablet, 6 cars, cash of Rs. 1,41,000/- were recovered. Subsequently, in their confessional statement, Sanjay Dhingra along with accused have confessed their guilt in the alleged offence. Moreover, accused Sanjay Dhingra disclosed that fake GST firms were prepared by him along with Deepak Murjhani and others and it is important to point out that Kanika Dhingra who is wife of Sanjay Dhingra has stated that through M/s Radha Krishna Marketing about Rs. 16,35,00,000/- were transferred to her saving bank account. Copy of recovery memo was served upon the accused receiving their signatures thereon. (xlv) C.D. Parcha No.149 (03.05.2024) shows that mobile phones and tablet which were recovered from the daughter of Deepak Murjhani, namely, Dolsy Murjhani, were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Ghaziabad for examination. (xlvi) C.D. Parcha No. 156 (13.05.2024) reveals that the data relating to fake GST firms was shared with DGGI Unit, Jaipur, Rajasthan, wherein on 30.08.2023 names of Rishabh Jain, Shubham Jin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dustries Private Limited, which was ultimately involved in the entire scam. These firms, namely, AKS Traders and YOYO Traders, during investigation, were found to be non-existing and fake as they were registered by procuring fake and fabricated documents by the applicants along with other accused persons. On being asked, Ramkumar and Rajni Kumar who were found at the addresses of said firms, they stated that no such firm in the aforesaid names is being operated by them and their documents have been misused and a written complaint along with aadhaar and electricity bill were given to the Investigating Officer. 27. It has also been argued that the mobile phones which were used in the registration of firms YOYO Traders and AKS Traders were used in mobile phone having IMEI No. 862625043825695. The same mobile having the said IMEI was recovered from accused Deepak Murjani who was initially arrested. 28. During investigation it was found that M/s Good Health Pvt. Ltd. was having Directors Sukhveer Singh Yadav and Rajesh Kumar Jha. These persons could not be traced out and it was found that they were dummy directors for the purpose of committing the offence and further during investigatio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... supply. 32. It has been established through investigation that crime has been committed by the accused persons by making fraudulent firm by using PAN Card and Aadhaar Card, Mobile Number for creating fake firms and through fake invoices, they breached supply chain of ITC and got benefit through fake gains which have been created by them. Thus, in so many words, the said case is started with registration of fake firms using PAN Card and Aadhaar Card of the informant for consequential benefits of claiming ITC. Thus, it cannot be said that the proceedings have to be initiated against the applicants under the special Act i.e. Goods and Services Tax Act, where the proper procedure has been laid down and FIR could not have been registered. 33. The next finding in the case of recovery and use of fake PAN Cards has to be understood by analysing the purpose of issuing a PAN Card. The PAN card is issued to keep a track of financial activity of a person and a PAN is integral for all forms of payments. A PAN Card number is located to a needful and contains information such as Aadhaar number, date of birth and address. Similar is the use of Aadhaar Card which is now linked with the account of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing no direct evidence of being in any way connected with the fake GST firms and even if it is presumed that there were any transaction of the applicants with Company of Sanjay Dhingra, he has already been released on bail, this Court feels that unknowing involvement in such transactions which are fraudulent in nature, which benefited them and has aided in concealing the money trail in the commission of offence, the same was subject to investigation, where after collecting evidence, charge sheet has been submitted. 38. Learned counsel for the applicants, in order to prove innocence of Kanika Dhingra, has submitted that transaction of money in her account from her son's account would not hold her guilty of participating in the crime in criminal offence. This Court is of the opinion that if the relatives, mother and son in the present case, are knowingly benefitted from money/ transactions even without directly participating in the crime, they shall stand implicated in the legal proceedings as offence against them is made out. This Court has found from the case diary, portion of which has been placed above, that the mother and son have personally gained from the illegal funds, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... may be company or firm or relatives' accounts. 44. The intention of all the accused of having transactions with fake GST firms, was for claiming input tax credit. For the purposes, fake invoices are created for purchase of goods, a group of firms engaged in fictitious transactions and no actual goods or services are exchanged but ITC is claimed multiple times. 45. Fraudsters, like all the alleged accused in the present case set up companies only on paper to generate fake transactions and claim ITC. Such companies are abandoned or shutdown after a short period. 46. GST Department has blown a whistle to report the fraudulent activities like fake invoicing or ITC theft, thus, giving opportunity to the Investigating Agency to trace the conspiracy as planned which was the outcome of fake GST firm registered on the basis of Aadhaar and PAN cards of others as in the present case. 47. As regards the bail being granted to Sanjay Dhingra, the same is for an offence under the GST Act, which has no relevance in facts of the present case as the same involves offences under IPC. 48. The principal of bail is the rule, jail is the exception is a fundamental concept in criminal law, where the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... plications, from the report of the concerned District Judge/ Chief Judicial Magistrate, it is clear that the co-accused have avoided coming to the court and discharge application of one of the accused has been rejected. One or the other grounds are being taken by the accused persons in getting the matter adjourned so that the charge is not framed, therefore, they are trying to cause deliberate delay so that the charges may not be framed, hence, interfering in judicial process, thus, giving ample reason of not enlarging them on bail. 52. From the report also it is clear that the discharge application of one of the accused has been rejected and it shows that the charges are proved and once on the basis of material collected chargesheet has been submitted, discharge is rejected, the case of bail is not made out in economic offence where money trail of crores has been found which is a result of registration of fake firms. Offence under the IPC is made out and such accused cannot be dealt with easy hands. The applicants are also chargesheeted hence to be dealt with the same rod. In the case of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v. Central Bureau of Investigation, (2013) 7 SCC 439 , the Supreme Cour ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sing discretion under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. 55. Insofar as the argument of learned counsel for the applicants that the cases where the accused are females, they are entitled to be released on bail giving benefit of Section 437 Cr.P.C., the court is of the opinion that the benefit can be given to women who do not have agency and not who themselves are powerful or connected with such powerful persons and the offence is such which is affecting the public at large. 56. In the case of Tahir Hussain v. The Assistant Director Enforcement Directorate (Order dated 24.11.2022, Crl. Rev. P. 775/2022 and Crl. M.A. No. 23452/2022) , the Court has observed that the accused Tahir Hussain was involved in the acts of cheating/ falsification/ forgery of documents which resulted in fraudulent removal of money from the accounts of the three companies (M/s SEAPL, ECPL and EGSPL). On the directions and instructions of Tahir Hussain, huge amount of money was withdrawn from the accounts of the said three companies by way of transfer of funds to entry operators and bogus companies. Tahir Hussain was ultimate beneficiary of the laundered money which he used for fulfilment of ulterior motives. Fake and bogu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iar to the accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with, the larger interests of the public or State and similar other considerations. It has also to be kept in mind that for the purposes of granting the bail the legislature has used the words reasonable grounds for believing instead of the evidence which means the court dealing with the grant of bail can only satisfy it ( sic itself) as to whether there is a genuine case against the accused and that the prosecution will be able to produce prima facie evidence in support of the charge. It is not expected, at this stage, to have the evidence establishing the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. 60. Law on consideration of the Court to grant or refusal of bail has been settled by the Apex Court in a catena of decisions. In the case of Kalyan Chandra Sarkar v. Rajesh Ranjan [(2004) 7 SCC 528 : 2004 SCC (Cri) 1977] , the Supreme Court has held that the court granting bail should exercise its discretion in a judicious manner and not as a matter of course. Paragraph-11 of the said judgement is being quoted below: 11. The law in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lved therein and securing the presence of the accused to stand trial. Paragraph-23 of the said judgement reads thus: 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 te ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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