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....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 ways from the sale of liquor in the State of Chhattisgarh : I. Part-A : Illegal commission charged from the liquor suppliers on the accounted sale of liquor in Chhattisgarh. ii. Part-B Sale of off-the-record unaccounted country liquor (popular in Chhattisgarh) from State run shops. This was done with the active involvement of distillers, Hologram manufacturers, bottle makers, transporters, man power management and district excise officials. ....
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....as 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 ailments, in support of which, relevant documents have also been annexed. Thereafter on 16.05.2023, Hon'ble Supreme Court was pleased to grant protection from any coercive action to the wife of the applicant in relation to ECIR 11 (Annexure A/4). On 21.05.2023, the ED, illegally investigated without any jurisdiction and issued a provisional attachment order No.03/2023 followed by an Original Complaint No. 2001/2....
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....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. During the pendency of this application before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the respondent conducted search and seizure proceedings in the premises of the applicant and vide order dated 01.04.2024, notice was issued and interim protection from any coercive action against the two co-accused persons in Cr.M.P. No. 721 of 2024 (Anil Tuteja & Another Vs. Union of India and Others). On 03.04.2024, the app....
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....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 Court. 11. Shri Khurana, learned counsel for the applicant submits that total three cases have been registered against the applicant in relation to the same alleged liquor scam making the same allegations. The period of incarceration suffered by the applicant in relation to the offence as on date is as follows: Sl. No. Case Period of custody/status 1. ECIR/RPZO/04/2024 Da....
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.... 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 has been in custody for 100 days. It further reads as under: "4. It is not a matter of dispute that the investigation is complete and the charge sheet has been filed. Keeping that stage in mind, we do not deem it necessary to hear learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner or learned Additional....
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....hheld 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 contended that the co-accused Trilok Singh Dhillon has been granted bail by the Apex Court with effect form 15.01.2025 vide order dated 27.11.2024 in SLP No. 14697/2024. Howeve....
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....ic 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 of such written grounds of arrest should not be furnished to the arrested person as a matter of course and without exception. T....
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.... 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 document and furnish the edited copy of the grounds of arrest to the arrested person, so as to safeguard the san....
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....ting 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 writing expeditiously, the said ratio becomes the law....
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....d 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 overlapping offence....
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....lia and Canada, 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 ....
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....e concern that would otherwise warrant detention 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 ....
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....ll on the society in cases of financial irregularities, it has been held that even economic offences would fall under the category 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 bea....
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....he Special Judge, CBI, New Delhi. Therefore, their presence in the custody may not be necessary for further investigation. We are of the view that the appellants are entitled to the 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 ....
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....onal reason for believing that evidence." In Bhuboni Sahu v. King (1) the Privy Council has expressed the same view. Sir. John Beaumont who spoke for the Board observed that a confession of a co-accused is obviously evidence 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 m....
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....herein it has been held that in matters of allegation of tampering with evidence or absconding there must be "absolute certainty" before an accused can be incarcerated on that ground. It is submitted that mere ipse dixit of the Investigating Agency cannot be permitted 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 ....
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....the reliability of these retracted statements in the facts and circumstances of this case. 57. The reliability of the retracted statements has been discussed by the division bench of this court Central Excise v. Vishnu & Co. Pvt. Ltd., 2015 SCC OnLine Del 13824: "40. In fact Ms. 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 ....
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....W after receiving communication and due verification on being satisfied that prima facie a cognizable offence was committed, FIR No. 04/2024 was registered against the applicant and other co-accused persons (total of 71 accused) under Sections 7 & 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 420,467,468,471 and 120-B IPC. From the said charge 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 ....
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.... prevent hooch tragedies and earn revenue for the State have been misused by the criminal syndicate led by the applicant who extorted maximum personal benefit for themselves with the help of co-conspirators ie. Arunpathi Tripathi and Trilok Singh Dhilllon and Others. 33. The excise policy in the State of Chhattisgarh was amended in the year 2017 and Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation 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, bu....
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..... He contended that the applicant and his son are trying to tamper the evidence and threatening the witnesses which can be perused from the FIR No 235/2024 dated 28.05.2024. It is contended that the role of the present applicant in the instant crime is graver and therefore he may not be granted bail. As has been held by the Apex Court in the matter of State of UP Vs. Amanmani Tripathi (2005) 8 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 ....
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....ground to refuse bail, if the accused is of such character that his mere presence at large would intimidate the witnesses or if there is material to show that he will use his liberty to subvert justice or tamper with the evidence, then bail will be refused. We may also refer to the following principles relating to grant or refusal of bail stated in Kalyan Chandra Sarkar vs. Rajesh Ranjan, 2004 (7) SCC 528: "11. The law in regard to grant or refusal of bail is very well settled. The court granting bail should exercise 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 t....
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....n held by the Apex Court in the matter of Dolat Ram Vs. State of Haryana 1995 (1) SCC 349 wherein the distinction between the factors relevant for rejecting bail in a non-bailable cases and cancellation of bail already granted have to be considered and dealt with on different basis. The Apex Court in the matter of Gulabrao Babukar Deokar Vs. State of Maharastra (2013) 16 SCC 190, has observed that : 28. In the instant case, the attempts made by the appellant to pressurize the witnesses and even the investigating officer are clearly placed on record through the affidavit of the Deputy S.P. Mr. Pawar. On that ground also it could be said that the 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 d....
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....ion and standing of the accused; (vi) likelihood of the offence being repeated; (vii) reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with; and (viii) danger, of-course the justice being thwarted by grant of bail. 42. Indeed, these guidelines are not exhaustive, nonetheless, these have to be considered while passing an order in a bail application in a non-bailable offence. The aforementioned factors for grant or refusal of bail in non-bailable offences as the case in hand are discussed under the following headings. Prima-facie or reasonable ground to believe that the applicant/accused has committed the offence:- "It is profitable to reiterate here, that case FIR No. RC0042023A0003 dated 08.02.2023 has been registered 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 ....
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....f the Cr.P.C. that they were involved in the syndicate crime but they are listed as prosecution witnesses without being granted pardon by the competent court. Prima facie it appears that the prosecution has adopted an inconsistent stance being both hot and cold in its approach and has acted in a pick and choose manner in investigation. It is stated by the learned counsel for the respondent that the applicant was involved in the criminal syndicate and maximum personal benefits were acquired by the syndicate but surprisingly, no recovery of unaccounted money in relation to the earnings made by the illegal liquor has been made from the present applicant. Be that as it may, the applicant cannot take advantage at this stage because further investigation is going on as per argument 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....
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....aking a serious note with regard to the economic offences had observed as back as in 1987 in case of State of Gujarat vs. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal and Another (1987) 2 SCC 364 as under:- "5... The entire community is aggrieved if the economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to books. 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..." 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 a....
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....y a punishable offence but also undermines human rights, indirectly violating them, and systematic corruption, is a human rights' violation in itself, as it leads to systematic economic crimes. In the aforesaid backdrop as has been held that economic offences are grave offence affecting the economy of the country as a whole and serious repercussions on the development of the country and in view of the fact that corruption is a really a human rights violation specially right to life liberty, equality and non-discrimination, and it is an enormous obstacle to the realization of all human rights and looking to the seriousness of the crime, the charges have been alleged against the applicant by the prosecution agency and further taking into consideration the fact that charge-sheet has been filed against the applicant this Court is not inclined to grant 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. H....