TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (3) TMI 439
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.... by this Hon'ble Court; and/or may further be pleased to grant protection to the applicant, either, by way of interim order of anticipatory bail till the disposal of the present application; and / or any other suitable order which this Hon'ble may deem fit in the facts and circumstances of the case, otherwise the applicant shall suffer irreparable loss." 3. The present case started on a first information report lodged on 04.05.2023 by Saurabh Dwivedi the Editor of The Lallantop an Internet News Portal and India Today Hindi Magazine addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Noida, Commissionerate Noida, Uttar Pradesh alleging therein that he has come across two GST registrations having No. 03AUSPD7067N1Z3 and 27AUSPD7067N1ZT obtained in the State of Punjab and Maharashtra respectively w.e.f. 20.03.2023. They have been applied on his PAN-AUSPD7067N and bear his name Saurabh Dwivedi as the legal name of the business entity. The details of both the registrations as available on the GST portal which were enclosed with the complaint. It is further stated that registered address mentioned in the given two registrations are for 03AUSPD7067N1Z3 as 787, Ground Floor, Railway Office, ....
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....ing a cooperative society by the name of Sirsa Court Colony Janta Co-operative Labor and Construction Society Limited wherein he has been its member since the year 2013 and has been carrying on construction projects in Sirsa, paragraph 46 of the affidavit has been placed. (xi) The applicant is not the beneficiary of the said forged registrations in any manner. (xii) The implication of the applicant in the present matter is without any credible evidence. (xiii) The investigation in the mater is going on till date as stated in paragraph 41 of the affidavit. (xiv) The applicant has no criminal history as stated in para 46 & 54 of the affidavit. 5. Per contra, learned Additional Advocate General for the State has submitted the following:- (i) While placing paragraph 5 & 6 of the counter affidavit dated 12.02.2024 it is argued that the court concerned has issued non-bailable warrant against the applicant vide order dated 10.08.2023, the house of the applicant was raided where he was not found, he is absconding till date and not co-operating in the investigation. (ii) A Special Investigation Team (S.I.T.) has been constituted for investigation of the present case since it is....
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....pplication U/S 438 Cr.P.C. No. 8606 of 2020 (Deepti Bahal Vs. State of U.P.) decided on 05.01.2021 by another Bench of this Court; (paragraph 6, 10, 11 & 12). (C) Bail rejected for economic offences:- (i) State of Gujarat Vs. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal and another: (1987) 2 SCC 364; (paragraph 5) (ii) Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation: (2013) 7 SCC 439; (paragraph 34 & 35). (iii) Nimmgadda Prasad Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation: (2013) 7 SCC 466; (paragraph 23, 24 & 25). (iv) State of Bihar and Another Vs. Amit Kumar @ Bachcha Rai: (2017) 13 SCC 751; (paragraph 9, 13 & 14). (v) Serious Fraud Investigation Office Vs. Nittin Johari and Another: (2019) 9 SCC 165; (paragraph 24). (vi) Central Bureau of Investigation Vs. Ramendu Chattopadhyay: (2020) 14 SCC 396; (paragraph 7, 8 & 14). (vii) Tarun Kumar Vs. Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement: 2023 SCC OnLine 1486; (paragraph 22 & 23). (D) An absconder / proclaimed absconder not entitled to relief of anticipatory bail:- (i) State of M.P. Vs. Pradeep Sharma: (2014) 2 SCC 171; (paragraph 10). (ii) Prem Shankar Pradad Vs. State of Bihar and another: (2022) 14 SCC 516; (paragraph 1....
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....ious and circumspect in exercising 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 lays down that "the distinction between an ordinary order o....
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....ormer 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. ......." 8. The courts have been put at guard to interfere in matters regarding corruption. In the case of State v. Anil Sharma : (1997) 7 SCC 187 the Apex Court held that custodial interrogation of a suspected person in a case of corruption is of tremendous advantage as many useful informations and material would have been concealed. It was observed as follows: "6. We find force in the submission of the CBI that custodial interrogation is qualitatively more elicitation-oriented than questioning a suspect who is well ensconced with a favourable order under Section 438 of the Code. In a case like this effective interrogation of a suspected person is of tremendous advantage in disinterring many useful informations and also materials which would have been concealed. Success in such interrogation would elude if the suspected person knows that he is well protected and insulated by a pre-....
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....rly comprehend the exact role of the accused in the case. The cases in which the accused is implicated with the help of Sections 34 and 149 of the Penal Code, 1860 the court should consider with even greater care and caution because over-implication in the cases is a matter of common knowledge and concern; (viii) While considering the prayer for grant of anticipatory bail, a balance has to be struck between two factors, namely, no prejudice should be caused to the free, fair and full investigation and there should be prevention of harassment, humiliation and unjustified detention of the accused; (ix) The court to consider reasonable apprehension of tampering of the witness or apprehension of threat to the complainant; (x) Frivolity in prosecution should always be considered and it is only the element of genuineness that shall have to be considered in the matter of grant of bail and in the event of there being some doubt as to the genuineness of the prosecution, in the normal course of events, the accused is entitled to an order of bail." 23. In Sushila Aggarwal v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2020) 5 SCC 1, the Constitution Bench reiterated that while deciding applications for an....
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.... 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 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, as was aptly stated in State of Gujarat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal [(1987) 2 SCC 364 : 1987 SCC (Cri) 364 : AIR 1987 SC 1321]." 11. In the case of P. Chidambaram Vs. Directorate of Enforcement : (2019) 9 SCC 24, the Apex Court while dealing with an anticipatory bail in a matter relatin....
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.... 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, paras 34-35) "34. 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 a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country. 35. While granting bail, the court has to keep in mind the nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in support thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused, circumstances which a....
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....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. Chidambaram v. CBI, 2019 SCC OnLine Del 9703]. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, in our view, grant of anticipatory bail to the appellant will hamper the investigation and this is not a fit case for exercise of discretion to grant anticipatory bail to the appellant." 12. Further in the case of Directorate of Enforcement Vs. M. Gopal Reddy and another : 2022 SCC Online SC 1862 the Apex Court in paragraph 32 reiterated the observations of the Court in economic offence matters as stated in the case of P. Chidambaram (supra) and observed as under: "32. ............... As per the catena of decision of this Court, more particularly, observed in the case of P. Ch....