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TMI Blog2024 (11) TMI 927X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to be reasonable grounds for believing that petitioner is not guilty of offence as provided under Section 45 of PMLA. Considering the evidence on record, serious nature of economic offence whereby the public funds to the tune of Rs.3035.52 crores have been siphoned off, and the fact that application preferred on behalf of co-accused Tarun Kumar stands rejected by the Hon ble Apex Court, this Court is of the considered opinion that the petitioner is not entitled to bail. Application is accordingly dismissed. - HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANOOP KUMAR MENDIRATTA For the Appellant : Mr. Tanveer Ahmed Mir, Mr. Yash Datt and Mr. Deepak Tuteja, Advocates. For the Respondent : Mr. Zoheb Hossain, Special Counsel with Mr. Vivek Gurnani, Mr. Kartik Sabharwal and Mr.Kunal Kochar, Advocates. JUDGMENT ANOOP KUMAR MENDIRATTA, J. 1. An application for bail under Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ( Cr.P.C. ) has been preferred on behalf of petitioner Siddharth Kumar seeking regular bail in ECIR/ 12/DLZO-I/2021 dated 31.01.2021 registered under Section 3/4 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 ( PMLA ). 2. Brief facts for the purpose of disposal of present application are culled ou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Directorate that the consortium of banks led by State Bank of India engaged the services of BDO India LLP for conducting forensic audit of SBFL and the Forensic Auditor submitted the Audit Review for the period of 01.04.2013 to 31.03.2017 vide report dated 25.06.2019.The Forensic Auditor reported many discrepancies and investigation revealed that accused including Siddharth Kumar (petitioner) and Tarun Kumar were actively involved in the illegal transactions mentioned in the Forensic Report. SBFL was further found to have resorted to diversion of loan funds, round tripping and money laundering. It was also revealed that SBFL was a family managed business mainly for the profit of Kewal Krishan Kumar and other family members and the key decision making was kept in the hands of Kewal Krishan Kumar, Siddharth Kumar (petitioner), Tarun Kumar, Divyarth Kumar and Sunanda Kumar by virtue of Directorship, Shareholding or being Authorized Signatories. The inflated inventory/stocks in the Books of Accounts was accompanied with increased borrowings and the loans were taken keeping stocks as a base of borrowings. Subsequently, in the Board of Directors Meeting dated 10.02.2016, Directors of SB ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s Ltd. (5.0%) 3. Sumesh Financers Pvt. Ltd. (37.39%) 4. Goal Securities Credits Limited (36.21%) 5. Vital Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (0.30%) 6. Crest Agro Foods Ltd. (2.48%) 7. Shubhangi Finvest Pvt. Ltd. (15.11%) 8. Dash Exports Private Limited. (29%) 9. Prince Foods Tech Private Limited. (6.28%) 4. Elanza Investment Pvt. Ltd. 1. Kumar Food Industries Ltd.(3.33%) 2. Goal Securities Credits Limited. (9.36%) Elanza Investment Pvt. Ltd. 5. Goal Securities Credits Limited 1. Bhawna Portfolio Pvt. Ltd. (3.79%) 2. Kumar Food Industries Ltd. (4.97%) 3. Divyarth Leasing Finance Pvt. Ltd. (4.65%) 4. Elanza Investment Pvt. Ltd. (0.69%) 5. Kalyani Finvest Private Limited (1.54%) 6. Pancy Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (11.62%) 7. Divyarth Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. (13.69%) 8. Vital Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (7.02%) 9. VizzyFinvest Pvt. Ltd. (1.78%) 10. Phlox Investment Pvt. Ltd. (94.97%) 11. Dash Exports Private Limited (6.5%) Goal Securities Credits Limited 6. Divyarth Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. 1. Kumar Food Industries Ltd. (4.41%) 7. Vital Holdings Pvt. Ltd 1. Bhawna Portfolio Pvt. Ltd. (9.67%) 2. Kumar Food Industries Ltd. (4.80%) 3. Divyarth Leasing Finance Pvt. Ltd. (3.28%) 4. Kalyani Finvest Private Limited.(0.36%) 5. Pan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rom these shell entities, fake transport invoices for these LCs were arranged under the aegis of Tarun Kumar and Siddharth Kumar on some of which fake PANs were found mentioned. 18. That Shakti Bhog Foods Limited, under directorship of Siddharth Kumar, claimed damage to stock worth Rs.3035.52 crore due to false inflation in the stock inventory. Despite opportunity being given, Siddharth Kumar failed to reveal information about the parties to whom the so called damaged stock was sold and the location of the sale proceeds. During the course of investigation, statement of employees of SBFL was recorded u/s 50 of PMLA, 2002. Abdul Hasan Ansari, GM (Accounts), SBFL in his statement given u/s 50 of PMLA, 2002 stated that I want to state that SBFL was involved in bogus purchases from shell entities and payments were made to these shell entities from credit facilities availed from lender banks. On being asked I want to state that funds transferred into shell entities on basis of fake bills were either round tripped into bank accounts of SBFL to inflate turnover or further transferred into bank accounts of other dummy entities for layering of funds or transferred into sister concern of SBFL ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ived by the highly qualified professionals of SBFL (Rs.1.5 lacs per month). 6. It is further the case of Enforcement Directorate that during investigation, it was revealed that the Letter of Credit ( LC ) was opened against dummy entities and fake bills were countersigned by the petitioner for the purpose of reflecting inflated turnover and siphoning of the loan funds. Reference in this regard is further made to Bills of Exchange ( BOE ) of Lachhu Ram Aggarwal Co. and M/s. Annpurna Trading Company for the year 2015. In support of the same, statements of officials of concerned Company are stated to have been recorded under Section 50 PMLA including Abdul Hasan Ansari, General Manager (Accounts). It is pointed out that from SBFL, funds for sum of Rs.1 crore and Rs.1.5 crores were transferred to the sister concerns under authorisation of the petitioner and further petitioner was also an authorised signatory for purpose of receiving refunds in the aforesaid sister concerns. Petitioner is also stated to be a beneficiary of about Rs.11.32 crores of the proceeds of crime. The amounts were transferred from M/s Shakti Bhog Foods Ltd. ( SBFL ) to Vizzy Finvest Pvt. Ltd and Elanza Investments ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rcement, 2024 INSC 637; Manish Sisodia v. Directorate of Enforcement, SLP (Crl.) No.8772 of 2024; Rabi Prakash v. The State of Odisha , SLP (Crl.) No.4169 of 2023; Union of India v. K.A. Najeeb, 2021 3 SCC 713; Ram Kishan v. Harmeet Kaur Anr., (1972) 3 SCC 280; Baijnath Sah v. State of Bihar, (2010) 6 SCC 736; Raman Bhuraria v. Enforcement Directorate, Bail Appln. 4330/2021 decided on 08.02.2023; Parasmal Lodha v. Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Bail Appln. 835/2017 decided on 29.05.2017; Amarendra Dhari Singh v. Directorate of Enforcement, Bail Appln. 2293/2017 decided on 05.08.2021; C.P. Khandelwal v. E.D., 2023 SCC OnLine Del 1094; Neeraj Singal v. Directorate of Enforcement, SLP (Crl.) No.8439-8440 of 2024 decided on 06.09.2024; Sunil Dhammani v. Directorate of Enforcement, Criminal Appeal 4108 of 2024 decided on 03.10.2024; G. Udayan Dravid Ors. v. State Others, 2006 SCC OnLine Del 1484 and Sanjay Jain v. Enforcement Directorate, Bail Appln. 3807/2022 decided on 07.03.2024. Written submissions were also filed on record. Contentions on behalf of Enforcement Directorate 10. On the other hand, application is vehemently opposed by Shri Zoheb Hossain, Special Counse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he mandatory twin conditions. Written submissions were also filed on record. 12. I have given considered thought to the contentions raised. Apart from the statements of the witnesses recorded under Section 50 of PMLA, the data manifesting relationship of stock, turn over and borrowings by SBFL reflects that SBFL started taking loans from different banks with the help of inflated turn over and fictitious closing stocks. The data reflected by Enforcement Directorate in para 12 of reply to the bail application is pertinent to be noticed and may be reproduced for reference: F.Y. Bank Loan (Rs. In Crores) Stock (Rs. in Crores) Turnover (Rs. in Crores) Stock/Turnover Ratio 2005-06 61.50 111.63 697.33 16.00% 2006-07 72.87 187.08 950.46 19.68% 2007-08 189.22 327.03 1,411.87 23.16% 2008-09 453.25 675.27 1,953.24 34.57% 2009-10 754.68 1030.88 2,673.47 38.56% 2010-11 1,175.08 1,536.46 3,271.99 46.96% 2011-12 1,544.41 2,171.28 4,068.30 53.37% 2012-13 2,280.07 3,002.02 5,256.51 57.11% 2013-14 2,517.78 3,877.93 5,922.15 65.48% 2014-15 2,811.46 3,921.26 5,881.66 66.67% 2015-16 3,166.95 3,380.28 3,951.66 85.54% 2015-16 3146.00 235.93 3,909.95 6.03% 2016-17 3,152.62 10.02 502.22 2.00% The fact that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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