TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (5) TMI 334
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....DGARM/1921, pending before the Court No.4, Judicial Magistrate First Class, Panvel, Raigad, and/or (d) Direct the respondents to take necessary action in connection with V/PI/RGD/Gr-II/19-29./DGARM/19-21, so as to de-attach the bank account of the petitioner maintained by the petitioner with the Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd. and/or (e) Restrain the respondents to take any further coercive action or criminal prosecution in connection with V/PI/RGD/Gr-II./19-29/ DGARM/19-21 qua the petitioner, and/or (f) Dispense the affidavit of the petitioner in as much as the petitioner is in judicial custody (g) Pass any other or further orders that this Hon'ble Court may deems fit in the facts and circumstances of the present case." 2. Petitioner is proprietor of M/s. Vijay Ispat and one of the Director of M/s. Sushimita Mercantile Pvt. Ltd. along with his wife, who is a nominal Director. On the basis of specific intelligence, Respondents initiated investigation and inspected the offices and places of business of the aforesaid firms on 11th March, 2021. 3. Petitioner was summoned under Section 70 of the CGST Act and, inter alia, statement in terms of t....
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....er was arrested for offences punishable under Section 132(1)(b) of the CGST Act and was produced before the concerned Court on 24th March, 2021 and is since then being remanded to judicial custody. Petitioner prefer an application for bail before the concerned Magistrate Court which came to be rejected vide order dated 31st March, 2021." 4. On the very same day i.e. on 23rd March, 2021, Petitioner was arrested for offences punishable under Section 132(1)(b), (c) of the CGST Act and was produced before the concerned Court on 24th March, 2021 for remand and since then is stated to be in judicial custody. Petitioner preferred an application for bail before the concerned Magistrate Court which came to be rejected vide order dated 31st March, 2021. Thereafter, vide communication dated 4th April, 2021, the bank account in respect of M/s. Vijay Ispat with Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd., was attached. Petitioner is aggrieved by all these actions but Petitioner is pressing for interim relief in terms of prayer clause (c) at this stage. 5. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner submits that Petitioner is a law abiding citizen, regularly filing returns with the concerned authority, showing....
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....ue submitted that on the basis of specific intelligence, the investigation against M/s. Sushimita Mercantile Pvt. Ltd., and Vijay Ispat was initiated. The principal place of business at Office No. 736, DISMA Warehousing Complex, Plot No. 750, Road No.06, Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Maharashtra 410 218 was inspected on 11th March, 2021 but the said premises was found to be empty and no statutory records/ documents of either of the two firms could be found in the said office premises. 8. It is submitted that the additional place of business of M/s.Sushimita Mercantile Pvt. Ltd., as declared by M/s. Sushimita Mercantile Pvt. Ltd., at Phase-II, Shop No.4, Plot No.51, Navade, Maharashtra 410 208 ad-measuring around 300 sq. ft was found to be occupied by a vegetable vendor and upon enquiry from the owner, it was informed that the premises were vacant for last three to four months and that no rent had been received from M/s. Sushimita Mercantile Pvt. Ltd., though invoices were being issued from the said address. Even the additional place of business of M/s. Vijay Ispat at Go-down No.236-C, KWC, Steel Market, Road No.2, Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai 410 218 was found to be non-existent. ....
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.... E-way Bills, Transport documents, detail of persons of respective firms with whom its transactions have been carried out and has also not revealed the names of other conspirators. It is submitted on behalf of the Revenue that the co-conspirators are absconding and not joining investigation. Investigations for ascertaining role of other firms involved in the fraudulent availment of ITC are going on and it is submitted that there is possibility that Petitioner would tamper with evidence, influence the witnesses, may abscond and not co-operate if released on bail. 13. During the course of hearing, we have called for original file notings of the Revenue. A perusal of the same, indicates that the concerned officer has on the basis of the information given so far by the Petitioner is in the process of identifying other key conspirators/ master mind in the fraudulent availment of ITC, the concerned officer has recorded her reasons to believe that Petitioner has floated the two firms with the core objective to defraud the Government Ex-chequer; that Petitioner is only doing paper transactions involving 66 Crores of revenue which is huge by any standards and, has authorized his arrest u....
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....tamount to foreclosing the out-come to the investigation and would rather hamper the same. 17. The decision of this Court in the case of Daulat Mehta (supra) in our view is completely different on the emergent facts of this case. From the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Arnab M. Goswami v/s. State of Maharashtra (AIR 2021 SC-1) referred to in the above decision, the principles laid down therein, were culled out by this Court as under:- "57:-While considering an application for the grant of bail under Article 226 in a suitable case, the High Court must consider the settled factors which emerge from the precedents of this Court. These factors can be summarized as follows:- (i) The nature of the alleged offence, the nature of the accusation and the severity of the punishment in the case of a conviction; (ii) Whether there exists a reasonable apprehension of the accused tampering with the witnesses or being a threat to the complainant or the witnesses; (iii) The possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial or the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice; (iv) The antecedents of and circumstances whic....