TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (2) TMI 733
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....y Bhati & Ors.", under Section 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 on such terms and conditions as this Hon'ble Court deems just, fit and proper: AND B. Pass appropriate order(s) or direction(s) that Mr. Satinder Singh Bhasin, the Applicant/Accused may be granted interim protection from arrest during the pendency of the present application; AND C. Pass such other or further Order(s)/Direction(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper." 4. The present case relates to matter known as "Bike Bot Scam". Many First Information Reports were lodged under Sections 406, 420, 471, 506, 120B I.P.C. and other sections against M/s Garvit Innovative Promoters Ltd. (in short 'GIPL') and Sanjay Bhati, its promoter and other directors on the basis of complaints filed by its various investors/customers. 5. Pursuant to registration of F.I.R's under the scheduled offences, an ECIR/LKZO/05/2019, dated 29.06.2019 was filed in Lucknow Zonal Office of Directorate of Enforcement/respondent no. 1 against the accused persons for offence under Section 3 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Investigation in the said matter was being done i....
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....LKZO150819 confirmed by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority on 14.01.2021. To permit the complainant to file additional Complaint (supplementary complains, if any, on completion of further investigation which is still ongoing Pass such other orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper on the focta and in the circumstances of the case. It is prayed accordingly." 7. The court of Special Judge took cognizance upon the said complaint and summoned the accused persons including the applicant vide order dated 28.5.2022 for offences under Sections 3 and 4 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The applicant thus after rejection of his anticipatory bail by the Special Judge, Anti Corruption (C.B.I.), Ghaziabad vide order 30.11.2023 is before this Court with the prayers as aforesaid. 8. The case as per the complaint is that the main complaint was filed against Manoj Kumar Tyagi in February 2021 on which cognizance was taken by the court concerned vide its order dated 25.01.2022. Public had invested money in scheme titled as 'BIKE BOT Scheme' floated by M/s Garvit Innovative Promoters Limited of which Sanjay Bhati was Chief Managing Director. As ....
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....vit. It is argued that since the applicant has been granted bail by the said order with further directions that the same would also apply to the present case. It is argued that the order of the Apex Court has been ignored by Enforcement Directorate and by the trial court and they have proceeded to file the complaint against the applicant on which the applicant has been summoned by the court concerned and as such the order is not being followed by the concerned authority and thus the applicant has apprehension that he will be arrested. It is argued that the applicant shall be undertaking further action as advised for non-compliance of the order of the Apex Court at the appropriate time. 10. Learned counsel for the applicant on one hand argued that the applicant is adequately protected by the said order of the Apex Court but at the same time he does not resort to appropriate proceedings before the appropriate forum for non compliance of the order of the Apex Court. He has apprehension of arrest and as such it is prayed the applicant may be granted anticipatory bail till such terms. Stand of the applicant thus is blowing both hot and cold at the same time at one hand he takes up th....
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....V Limited were considered to be fake documents in the inquiry. No sub-lease was registered in respect of allotment of commercial space to GIPL and Independent TV Limited. He had opened a bank account in Noble Co-operative Bank at NOIDA where GIPL and Independent TV Limited were having their accounts. The said bank was under control of Vijay Kumar Sharma who is also an accused in the scam. Rs. 25 crore was received in the bank account of M/s Vinamr Infrastructure Private Limited having account no. 50200009642147 from GIPL on 05.12.2018 and the same was immediately transferred to the personal account of the applicant having account no. 1690700006208 on 06.12.2018 which would go to show that money was being laundered. He has thus intentionally assisted in the process and activity connected with the proceeds of crime and as such has committed offence. He was arrested in predicate offence and a charge sheet has also been filed against him. 14. Learned counsels for the applicant argued that :- (1) the applicant is Chairman of Bhasin Group of Companies having in it M/s Bhasin Infotech and Infrastructure Pvt. Limited which was incorporated on 23.5.2006. On 05.08.2006 land was a....
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....ced during inquiry were found to be fake documents. Complete documents pertaining to the transactions were not provided by the applicant despite several opportunity and ample time afforded to him. (5) Section 45 (i) and (ii) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 puts a bar on grant of bail as the twin conditions laid down in the said sections are not made out. (6) The applicant has been evading process of court continuously since 28.5.2022 and as such there are good chances of his absconding. (7) The applicant on his own showing in para 10 of his supplementary affidavit dated 22.12.2023 has a long criminal history reported to be of 119 cases pertaining to Bike Bot scam (118 cases lodged in the State of Uttar Pradesh and 1 case lodged at EOW, Delhi) [Para 10.1.1.5 of the supplementary affidavit], 46 cases pertaining to "Grand Venice" project of Bhasin Group of Companies (41 cases lodged in the State of Uttar Pradesh and 5 cases lodged in Delhi) [Para 10.1.2.2 of the supplementary affidavit], 7 cases lodged in the year 2023 in District Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.) [Para 10.1.2.7 of the supplementary affidavit] and 13 cases pertaining to "Festival City....
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....reject the application forthwith or issue an interim order for the grant of anticipatory bail: Provided that where the High Court or, as the case may be, the Court of Session, has not passed any interim order under this sub-section or has rejected the application for grant of anticipatory bail, it shall be open to an officer incharge of a police station to arrest, without warrant, the applicant on the basis of the accusation apprehended in such application. (2) Where the High Court or, as the case may be, the Court of Session, considers it expedient to issue an interim order to grant anticipatory bail under sub-section (1), the Court shall indicate therein the date, on which the application for grant of anticipatory bail shall be finally heard for passing an order thereon, as the Court may deem fit, and if the Court passes any order granting anticipatory bail, such order shall include inter alia the following conditions, namely:- (i) that the applicant shall make himself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required; (ii) that the applicant shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any per....
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....on. It further held that courts must be cautious and circumspect in execising powers of anticipatory bail as it intrudes the sphere of investigation. It is held as under: "5. Relevant considerations governing the court's decision in granting anticipatory bail under Section 438 are materially different from those when an application for bail by a person who is arrested in the course of investigation as also by a person who is convicted and his appeal is pending before the higher court and bail is sought during the pendency of the appeal. Three situations in which the question of granting or refusing to grant bail would arise, materially and substantially differ from each other and the relevant considerations on which the courts would exercise its discretion, one way or the other, are substantially different from each other. This is necessary to be stated because the learned Judge in the High Court unfortunately fell into an error in mixing up all the considerations, as if all the three become relevant in the present situation. 6. The decision of the Constitution Bench in Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab [(1980) 2 SCC 565 : 1980 SCC (Cri) 561] clearly la....
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....y more than there can be a presumption that the former are not likely to commit a crime and the latter are more likely to commit it". ********************* 11. ....... Anticipatory bail to some extent intrudes in the sphere of investigation of crime and the court must be cautious and circumspect in exercising such power of a discretionary nature. ......." 19. In the case of Ram Narain Poply v. Central Bureau of Investigation: (2003) 3 SCC 641 the Apex Court while considering a matter of economic offence held in para 382 as under: "382. The cause of the community deserves better treatment at the hands of the court in the discharge of its judicial functions. The community or the State is not a persona non grata whose cause may be treated with disdain. The entire community is aggrieved if economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to book. A murder may be committed in the heat of the 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 ma....
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....rat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal [State of Gujarat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal, (1987) 2 SCC 364 : 1987 SCC (Cri) 364], it was held as under : (SCC p. 371, para 5) "5. ... The entire community is aggrieved if the economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to book. 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 even-handed manner without fear of criticism from the quarters which view white collar crimes with a permissive eye unmindful of the damage done to the national economy and national interest." 81. Observing that economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with different approach in the matter of bail, in Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v. CBI [Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v. CBI, (2013) 7 SCC 439 : (2013) 3 SCC (Cri) 552], the Supreme Court held as under : (SCC p. 449, pa....
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....ved to other institutions to conceal origin" and "interrogation i.e. funds used to acquire various assets", it requires systematic and analysed investigation which would be of great advantage. As held in Anil Sharma [State v. Anil Sharma, (1997) 7 SCC 187 : 1997 SCC (Cri) 1039], success in such interrogation would elude if the accused knows that he is protected by a pre-arrest bail order. Section 438 CrPC is to be invoked only in exceptional cases where the case alleged is frivolous or groundless. In the case in hand, there are allegations of laundering the proceeds of the crime. The Enforcement Directorate claims to have certain specific inputs from various sources, including overseas banks. Letter rogatory is also said to have been issued and some response have been received by the Department. Having regard to the nature of allegations and the stage of the investigation, in our view, the investigating agency has to be given sufficient freedom in the process of investigation. Though we do not endorse the approach of the learned Single Judge in extracting the note produced by the Enforcement Directorate, we do not find any ground warranting interference with the impugned order [P. ....
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.... opposes the application, the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail: Provided that a person, who, is under the age of sixteen years, or is a woman or is sick or infirm [or is accused either on his own or along with other co-acc used of money-laundering a sum of less than one crore rupees], may be released on bail, if the Special Court so directs: Provided further that the Special Court shall not take cognizance of any offence punishable under Section 4 except upon a complaint in writing made by- (i) the Director; or (ii) any officer of the Central Government or a State Government authorised in writing in this behalf by the Central Government by a general or special order made in this behalf by that Government. [(1-A) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (2 of 1974), or any other provision of this Act, no police officer shall investigate into an offence under this Act unless specifically authorised, by the Central Government by a general or special order, and, subject ....