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TMI Blog2025 (1) TMI 10X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... used, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witness being tampered with, the larger interests of the public/State etc. Though, the findings recorded by the Court while granting or refusing bail would be tentative in nature, nonetheless the Court is expected to express prima facie opinion for granting or refusing to grant bail which would demonstrate an application of mind, particularly dealing with the economic offences - In the present case, the applicant was involved in the criminal acts of the syndicate and that he received commission from the liquor suppliers. However, no recovery of unaccounted money has been made in this regard and as per the investigating agency, the investigation is pending, hence, a conclusive determination of their role is yet to be made. As has been held in catena of decisions, the economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. The economic offences having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h for commission of offence punishable under Sections 420,468, 471,120(B) of the IPC and Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. 2. Facts of the case in brief is that after receiving a communication from the Enforcement directorate on 11.07.2023, prima facie a cognizable offence for commission of the offences under Sections 7 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 420,468, 471, 120(B) of the IPC was registered against the applicant. As per the FIR a criminal syndicate of high level State government officials, private persons and political executives of the State government was operating in the State of Chhattisgarh by collecting illegal bribes and controlling the high level management of important State Departments and State Public Sector undertakings. The sale of liquor in the State of Chhattisgarh was one of the major sources of illegal earning of the syndicate in which the applicant along with co-accused Anil Tuteja, Arunpati Tripathi, MD CSMCL and other associates ie. Vikas Agrawal @ Subbu, Arvind Singh, Sanjay Diwan and Distillers, Excise Officials were the main actors of the syndicate. The syndicate used to collect illegal money in three different ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an illegal manner, against all the settled principles of law, illegally registered an ECIR bearing ECIR/RPZO/11/2022 under Section 120-B IPC. Thereafter on 28.04.2023 (Annexure-A/2), two co-accused in the IT complaint and the ECIR 11 were granted protection by the Hon ble Supreme Court observing that the allegation is about offences under the Income Tax Act so far as the predicated offence in concerned and the cognizance has not been taken by the competent Court. At this stage, he only seeks protection so far as any coercive step is concerned and submits that he has already joined the investigation. No coercive steps be taken against the petitioner(s) till the next date 5. On 02.05.2023, the applicant filed a writ petition (W.P. No. 208 of 2023) before the Apex Court seeking quashment of the ECIR 11 and on 06.05.2023, despite of the aforesaid protection granted to the co-accused persons, the ED had illegally arrested the applicant. 6. Pursuant to the arrest of the applicant, he was remanded to the ED custody from time to time and subsequently was remanded to judicial custody. During this period, the officers of the ED were apprised that the applicant is suffering from various ailme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... istered at PS Kasna Police, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh without any preliminary enquiry within two days. On 18.08.2023, preliminary enquiry has been initiated by the EOW, Raipur. On 21.08.2023, Hon ble Supreme Court continued the interim protection granted earlier vide order dated 07.08.2023 in relation to the FIR lodged at UP. Thereafter, regular bail application of the applicant was dismissed by this Court on 6.10.2023 despite the fact that the proceedings in relation to ECIR 11 was stayed by the Hon ble Supreme Court. 8. Thereafter application was filed on behalf of the applicant on 19.10.2023 and the Hon ble Supreme Court has ordered that the dismissal of regular bail application of the applicant and the issuance of NBW was completely untenable in law and therefore the interim bail granted to the applicant would continue and the order issuing NBW is stayed. On 17.01.2024, FIR No. 04.2024 was registered by the ACB, Chhatisgarh under Sections 420,467,468,471 and 120-B IPC read with Sections 7 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against the applicant. The applicant preferred an application bearing No. 26705/2024 in WP (Crl.) No. 208/2023 seeking protection on 01.02.2024. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . It is also pertinent to mention here that there is no seizure of a single piece of duplicate hologram. Therefore, in view of the above facts and circumstances of the case, I am inclined to release him on regular bail. Accordingly, his application filed under Section 439 Cr.P.C. is allowed. 10. Against this order, the State has filed SLP (Crl.) No. 9395/2024 before the Apex Court against the order of the High Court wherein it was directed that the applicant herein shall be examined by the Medical Board of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raipur Chhattisgarh. It was opined by the Medical Superintendent of AIIMS on 10th September 2024 that there is no evidence of medical condition as mentioned in the impugned order and has recorded that the condition of the respondent is stable with no significant ailments. The bail granted on medical grounds cannot be sustained. However, the case of the respondent for grant of bail on merits will have to be considered. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 14.06.2024 was set aside and restored the petition bearing M.Cr.C. No. 3455 of 2024 to the file of the High Court. Hence, the applicant has filed the bail application before this ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al even not having been commenced, the appellant has been deprived of his right to speedy trial. 50. As observed by this Court, the right to speedy trial and the right to liberty are sacrosanct rights. On denial of these rights, the trial court as well as the High Court ought to have given due weightage to this factor. XXXX XXXX XXXX 54. In the present case, in the ED matter as well as the CBI matter, 493 witnesses have been named. The case involves thousands of pages of documents and over a lakh pages of digitized documents. It is thus clear that there is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future. In our view, keeping the appellant behind the bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of speedy completion of trial would deprive his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. As observed time and again, the prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial. 14. He has further placed his reliance in the matter of Bibhav Kumar Vs. State (NCT of Delhi) 2024 SC OnLine SC 2646 , wherein the bail was granted inter alia on the ground that he ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... said [R V. Rose, (1898) 18 Cox] : I observe that in this case bail was refused for the prisoner. It cannot be too strongly impressed on the, magistracy of the country that bail is not to be withheld as a punishment, but that the requirements as to bail are merely to secure the attendance of the prisoner at trial. XXXX XXXXX XXXX 20. In his statement of 04.08.2023, he stated that he knew Bishnu Kumar Agarwal and has met him during Marriage Events; that Punit Bhargava was like his younger brother who hailed from his native place, and he had known him since childhood. That in his statement of 03.08.2023, he stated that persons including Afshar Ali used to visit him for the Cheshire Home property and that he introduced him to Rajdeep Kumar and got the property verified. That with the consent of Punit Bhargava, he got the property registered in the name of Punit Bhargava and later the property was sold to Bishnu Kumar Agarwal at a consideration of Rs. 1.78 crore. The statement, as summarized, taken as it is does not prima facie make out a case of money laundering against the appellant. It also does not point to the involvement of the appellant prima facie in the forgery. 16. It is cont ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... grant of bail. The twin conditions set out in the provision are that, firstly, the Court must be satisfied, after giving an opportunity to the public prosecutor to oppose the application for release, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the arrested person is not guilty of the offence and, secondly, that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. To meet this requirement, it would be essential for the arrested person to be aware of the grounds on which the authorized officer arrested him/her under Section 19 and the basis for the officer's reason to believe that he/she is guilty of an offence punishable under the Act of 2002. It is only if the arrested person has knowledge of these facts that he/she would be in a position to plead and prove before the Special Court that there are grounds to believe that he/she is not guilty of such offence, so as to avail the relief of bail. Therefore, communication of the grounds of arrest, as mandated by Article 22 (1) of the Constitution and Section 19 of the Act of 2002, is meant to serve this higher purpose and must be given due importance. XXXX XXXX XXXX 42. That being so, there is no valid reason as to why a copy ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ad read or heard being read out for future recall so as to avail legal remedies. More so, as a person who has just been arrested would not be in a calm and collected frame of mind and may be utterly incapable of remembering the contents of the grounds of arrest read by or read out to him/her. The very purpose of this constitutional and statutory protection would be rendered nugatory by permitting the authorities concerned to merely read out or permit reading of the grounds of arrest, irrespective of their length and detail, and claim due compliance with the constitutional requirement under Article 22 (1) and the statutory mandate under Section 19 (1) of the Act of 2002. 44. We may also note that the grounds of arrest recorded by the authorized officer, in terms of Section 19 (1) of the Act of 2002, would be personal to the person who is arrested and there should, ordinarily, be no risk of sensitive material being divulged therefrom, compromising the sanctity and integrity of the investigation. In the event any such sensitive material finds mention in such grounds of arrest recorded by the authorized officer, it would always be open to him to redact such sensitive portions in the do ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... emand and to seek bail. Any other interpretation would tantamount to diluting the sanctity of the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 22 (1) of the Constitution of India. XXXX XXXX XXXX 21. The right to be informed about the grounds of arrest flows from Article 22 (1) of the Constitution of India and any infringement of this fundamental right would vitiate the process of arrest and remand. Mere fact that a charge sheet has been filed in the matter, would not validate the illegality and the unconstitutionality committed at the time of arresting the accused and the grant of initial police custody remand to the accused. 18. It is contended that the grounds of arrest cannot be a lip service. The reasons for arrest and grounds of arrest have been distinguished in as much as while reasons for arrest are formal in nature, the grounds of arrest would be required to contain all the details with the Investigating officer which necessitated the arrest of the accused person. Further it has been held in Prabir Purkayashta (supra) that the provisions of the statute in context to the constitutional scheme and has laid down that the grounds of arrest have to be conveyed to the accused in wr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hese individuals and none of the properties/assets belonging to these distillers and businessmen have been attached by the ED despite the fact that these persons are benefited from the alleged liquor scam and payment of bribe. 21. He submits that while allegations of a multi crore syndicate that has caused loss to the State exchequer in the State of Chhattisgarh has been made by the ED and the State, despite the change in government, neither any change has been brought to the existing liquor policy nor any license of any hologram manufacturer/distillers/cash collection agency etc. has been cancelled. The FIR has been registered on the basis of the material collected by the ED during the course of illegal investigation carried out by it in relation to the ECIR 11. The FIR, arrest of the applicant and his subsequent remand is thus a continuation of such illegality and untenable under the law. He has placed his reliance in the matter of State of Punjab Vs. Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar (2011) 14 SCC 770. It is further submitted that the FIR has been registered on the basis of the same alleged material, making identical allegations forming part of the same alleged transaction alleging ove ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a prima facie right to a reasonable bail is recognized based on the gravity of offence. In the United States, it is a common practice for bail to be a cash deposit. In the United Kingdom, bail is more likely to consist of a set of restrictions. 17. The Supreme Court of Canada in Corey Lee James Myers v. Her Majesty the Queen, 2019 SCC 18 , has held that bail has to be considered on acceptable legal parameters. It thus confers adequate discretion on the Court to consider the enlargement on bail of which unreasonable delay is one of the grounds. Her Majesty the Queen v. Kevin Antic and Ors., 2017 SCC 27: The right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause is an essential element of an enlightened criminal justice system. It entrenches the effect of the presumption of innocence at the pre-trial stage of the criminal trial process and safeguards the liberty of accused persons. This right has two aspects: a person charged with an offence has the right not to be denied bail without just cause and the right to reasonable bail. Under the first aspect, a provision may not deny bail without just cause there is just cause to deny bail only if the denial occurs in a narrow set of cir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion and proportionate to the means of the accused and the circumstances of the case. The judge is under a positive obligation to inquire into the ability of the accused to pay. Terms of release under s. 515(4) should only be imposed to the extent that they are necessary to address concerns related to the statutory criteria for detention and to ensure that the accused is released. They must not be imposed to change an accused person s behaviour or to punish an accused person. Where a bail review is requested, courts must follow the bail review process set out in R. v. St-Cloud, 2015 SCC 27, [2015] 2 S.C.R. 328. 17. We may only state that notwithstanding the special provisions in many of the countries world-over governing the consideration for enlargement on bail, courts have always interpreted them on the accepted principle of presumption of innocence and held in favour of the accused. 18. The position in India is no different. It has been the consistent stand of the courts, including this Court, that presumption of innocence, being a facet of Article 21, shall inure to the benefit of the accused. Resultantly burden is placed on the prosecution to prove the charges to the court of l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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 term of sentence that is prescribed for the offence the accused is alleged to have committed. Such consideration with regard to the gravity of offence is a factor which is in addition to the triple test or the tripod test that would be normally applied. In that regard what is also to be kept in perspective is that even if the allegation is one of grave economic offence, it is not a rule that bail should be denied in every case since there is no such bar created in the relevant enactment passed by the legislature nor does the bail jurisprudence provide so. Therefore, the underlining conclusion is that irrespective of the nature and gravity of charge, the precedent of another case alone will not be the basis for either grant or refusal of bail though it may have a bearing on principle. But ultimately the consideration will have to be on case-to-case basis on the facts involved therein and securing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he grant of bail pending trial on stringent conditions in order to ally the apprehension expressed by CBI. ROLE OF THE COURT 93. The rate of conviction in criminal cases in India is abysmally low. It appears to us that this factor weighs on the mind of the Court while deciding the bail applications in a negative sense. Courts tend to think that the possibility of a conviction being nearer to rarity, bail applications will have to be decided strictly, contrary to legal principles. We cannot mix up consideration of a bail application, which is not punitive in nature with that of a possible adjudication by way of trial. On the contrary, an ultimate acquittal with continued custody would be a case of grave injustice. 94. Criminal courts in general with the trial court in particular are the guardian angels of liberty. Liberty, as embedded in the Code, has to be preserved, protected, and enforced by the Criminal Courts. Any conscious failure by the Criminal Courts would constitute an affront to liberty. It is the pious duty of the Criminal Court to zealously guard and keep a consistent vision in safeguarding the constitutional values and ethos. A criminal court must uphold the constituti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of a very weak type. It does not indeed come within the definition of evidence contained in s. 3 of the Evidence Act. It is not required to be given on oath, nor in the presence of the accused, and it cannot be tested by cross-examination. It is a much weaker type of evidence than the evidence of an approver, which is not subject to any of those infirmities. 25. Further contention of the learned counsel for the applicant is that the applicant is not a flight risk, considering his social stand, the family and business which is entirely based in India and that the applicant has cooperated in the investigation and his statements have been duly recorded. He further contended that as per the Investigating Agency, it is a big scam with wide implication in the society but the role of each of the applicant should be seen individually. There is no substantial evidence brought on record by the respondent/Agency against the applicant showing his involvement in the manufacturing of duplicate holograms, acquiring illegal commission from the liquor suppliers for unaccounted sale of liquor or sale off the record, unaccounted illicit country made liquor. He has placed his reliance in the matter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itted to prejudice the liberty of a citizen fo this country. He further contended that it is a settled law that the merits are not to be considered at the stage of considering bail and the allegations made are a matter of trial. In any event, there was no recovery of any unaccounted money, incriminating material, illegal liquor bottles or duplicate holograms made from the applicant. The allegation that there is alleged scam of Rs. 1,660 crores but there is no recovery of the same by the investigating agencies. It is further contended that the applicant does not have any financial transaction with the distillers or Sanjeev Fatehpuria or Siddarth Singhania or any of the distillers against whom the allegations have been made and no financial transaction took place with the officials of the excise department. The whatsapp chats have also been denied by the learned counsel for the applicant and has stated that it is a matter of trial and therefore the applicant cannot be kept in custody. Further allegation of the Investigating Agency that the applicant is the mastermind, kingpin and brain child of the alleged scam but the prosecution has failed to produce any concrete or credible eviden ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Sharma too insisted upon reading from such retracted statements in order to persuade the Court to hold that the impugned order of the CESTAT is perverse. According to her the retraction made more than 20 months after the making of the initial statements would have no effect in the eye of law . She too submitted that the responsibility of ensuring the presence of such persons for cross-examination was of the noticees themselves. 41. What the above submission overlooks is the reliability of such statements. Once it is shown that the maker of such statement has in fact resiled from it, even if it is after a period of time, then it is no longer safe to rely upon it as a substantive piece of evidence. The question is not so much as to admissibility of such statement as much as it is about its reliability . It is the latter requirement that warrants a judicial authority to seek, as a rule of prudence, some corroboration of such retracted statement by some other reliable independent material. This is the approach adopted by the CESTAT and the Court finds it to be in consonance with the settled legal position in this regard. 58. In the present case as well, the question is not regarding th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e sheet, it has been revealed that the applicant along with the co-accused was the head of the criminal syndicate comprising of the high level State government officials, private persons executives of the State government were operating in the State of Chhattisgarh. This alleged syndicate collected illegal money in three different ways: Part A- illegal commission charged from liquor supplier for official sale of liquor in the State of Chhattisgarh. Part B Sale of unaccounted illicit country-made liquor from State run shops done with the involvement of distillers, hologram manufacturers, bottle makers, transporters, man power management and District Excise Officials. Part C Annual Commission from distillers for allowing them to operate a syndicate and divide the market share amongst themselves. 31. EOW has analyzed the information and the data shared by the income tax department. On the basis of these documents and records, it is established that a well planned systematic conspiracy was executed by the syndicate to earn illegal commission in the sale and licensing of liquor in the State of Chhattisgarh. The investigation conducted by the EOW revealed that the liquor was divided into ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion was created for sale of retail liquor through its stores in the State of Chhattisgarh. It has been contended by the learned counsel for the State that during the course of investigation it was found that the applicant is the main perpetrator of the illegal collection of money done by the syndicate. There are various digital and other evidences to demonstrate that he is one of the big beneficiaries of the syndicate. The other accused persons derived powers from him. The place of co-accused Arunpati Tripathi (ITS) as head of Chhattisgarh State Marketing Co-operation Limited (CSMCL) was made possible through the power and influence of co-accused Anil Tuteja (IAS). His posting was made at the behest of the applicant. In the investigation it has come out that the applicant though a business man, but due to his strong political links he had control over the entire set up and extorted money from the liquor manufacture. By misusing the position, with the support of the private persons, he was indulged in large scale corruption through systematic extorting and corruption via Quid-pro-quo-deals. He was main person who controlled the complete cash collection and his associates were place ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... SCC 21 which reads as under: Reliance is next placed on Dolat Ram and others vs. State of Haryana 1995 (1) SCC 349, wherein the distinction between the factors relevant for rejecting bail in a non-bailable case and cancellation of bail already granted, was brought out : Rejection of bail in a non-bailable case at the initial stage and the cancellation of bail so granted, have to be considered and dealt with on different basis. Very cogent and overwhelming circumstances are necessary for an order directing the cancellation of the bail, already granted. Generally speaking, the grounds for cancellation of bail, broadly (illustrative and not exhaustive) are: interference or attempt to interfere with the due course of administration of justice or evasion or attempt to evade the due course of justice or abuse of the concession granted to the accused in any manner. The satisfaction of the court, on the basis of material placed on the record of the possibility of the accused absconding is yet another reason justifying the cancellation of bail. However, bail once granted should not be cancelled in a mechanical manner without considering whether any supervening circumstances have rendered it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ercise its discretion in a judicious manner and not as a matter of course. Though at the stage of granting bail a detailed examination of evidence and elaborate documentation of the merit of the case need not be undertaken, there is a need to indicate in such orders reasons for prima facie concluding why bail was being granted particularly where the accused is charged of having committed a serious offence. Any order devoid of such reasons would suffer from non-application of mind. It is also necessary for the court granting bail to consider among other circumstances, the following factors also before granting bail; they are: a. The nature of accusation and the severity of punishment in case of conviction and the nature of supporting evidence. b. Reasonable apprehension of tampering with the witness or apprehension of threat to the complainant. c. Prima facie satisfaction of the court in support of the charge. (see Ram Govind Upadhyay vs. Sudarshan Singh, 2002 (3) SCC 598 and Puran vs. Ram Bilas 2001 (6) SCC 338. This Court also in specific terms held that: the condition laid down under section 437 (1) (i) is sine qua non for granting bail even under section 439 of the Code. In the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he appellant will be pressurizing the witnesses if he is not restrained. This being the position, we cannot find any fault with the order of the High Court cancelling the bail on that ground also. The order does record the cogent and overwhelming circumstances justifying cancellation of bail. The nature and seriousness of an economic offence and its impact on the society are always important considerations in such a case, and they must squarely be dealt with by the Court while passing an order on bail applications. 38. In another decision of the Apex Court in the matter of Mahipal Vs. Rajesh Kumar (2020) 2 SCC 118 held that it is necessary to consider relevant factors while granting bail and if those relevant facts (as enumerated in Amarmani Tripathi (supra) have not been taken into consideration while considering the application for bail, the bail is found on irrelevant considerations, indisputably the superior court can set aside the order of such a grant of bail. It has been further submitted that at the stage of bail, the statements under Section 161 Cr.P.C, can be looked into and has relied upon the judgment of the Apex Court in the matter of Indresh Kumar Vs. State of Uttar P ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tered by the CBI, Jammu u/s 120-B of IPC r/w Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 against the petitioner on the basis of complaint dated 07.02.2023 lodged by one Pankaj Kumar Verma S/o Sh. Sarvan Kumar R/o Lotus Villa, 232 Sector-1 Jalpura Greater Noida UP alleging demand of bribe of Rs.2.30 lacs by accused Sajad Ahmed Chief Accounts Officer JKTDC through Shokat Ali for processing of payment in respect of bills submitted by the complainant, on receipt of the complaint the verification thereof was carried out by Sh. Sanjay Kumar PSI wherein demand of bribe by the accused Sajjad Ahmed from the complainant through Shokat was confirmed, pursuant to which a trap was laid and both the accused persons namely, Sajjad Ahmed Chief Accounts Officer JKTDC and Shokat Ali Lecturer Govt. Polytechnic College Jammu were caught red-handed while demanding and accepting bribe of Rs.2.30 lacs from the complainant in presence of independent witnesses and both the accused were arrested and taken into custody on 08.02.2023 after following all the legal procedure. 43. It is trite that the court while considering an application seeking bail, is not required to weigh the evidence collected by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ument of learned Counsel for the State. In the present case, the applicant was involved in the criminal acts of the syndicate and that he received commission from the liquor suppliers. However, no recovery of unaccounted money has been made in this regard and as per the investigating agency, the investigation is pending, hence, a conclusive determination of their role is yet to be made. 46. It is also proved that some of the co-accused have been granted interim protection by the Apex Court and therefore on the ground that the other co-accused who were similarly situated as the applicant, have been granted bail, also cannot be accepted. It may be noted that parity is not the law. While applying the principle of parity, the Court is required to focus upon the role attached to the accused whose application is under consideration. It is axiomatic that the principle of parity is based on the guarantee of positive equality before law enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution. There are three charge sheets filed against 11 accused persons spanning into nearly 13,000 pages with over 457 witnesses, cited by the investigating agency and further investigation is going on. It is pertinent to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... w white collar crimes with a permissive eye unmindful of the damage done to the National Economy and National Interest 49. With the advancement of technology and Artificial Intelligence, the economic offences like money laundering have become a real threat to the functioning of the financial system of the country and have become a great challenge for the investigating agencies to detect and comprehend the intricate nature of transactions, as also the role of the persons involved therein. Lot of minute exercise is expected to be undertaken by the Investigating Agency to see that no innocent person is wrongly booked and that no culprit escapes from the clutches of the law. When the detention of the accused is continued by the Court, the courts are also expected to conclude the trials within a reasonable time, further ensuring the right of speedy trial guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. 50. Earlier, the applicant had been granted bail on medical grounds vide order dated 14.06.2024. However, it has been held by the Apex Court vide order dated 29.11.2024 in SLP (Crl.0 No. 9395/2024 that : ..the bail granted on medical grounds cannot be sustained. However, the case of the resp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... regular bail to the applicant. 53. Thus, from cumulative perusal of the judgments cited on either side, it could be inferred 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. 54. While considering the grant of bail, the triple/tripod test would also be a relevant consideration. The three factors as set out in the said test are:- (i) Whether the accused is a flight risk; (ii) Whether the accused will tamper with the evidence, if granted bail (iii) whether the accused could influence the witnesses, if granted bail. 8. Therefore, broadly speaking (subject to any statutory restrictions contained in Special Acts), in economic offences involving the IPC or Special Acts or cases triable by Magistrates once the investigation is complete, final report/complaint filed and the triple test is satisfied then denial of bail must be the exception rather than the rule. However, this would not prevent the Court from ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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