TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (6) TMI 746
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....elow was rejected by the officiating Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddha Nagar vide order dated 19.12.2025 and the applicant is stated to be languishing in jail since 19.12.2025. 3. The Crl. Misc. Bail Application No. 8555 of 2026 relates to Case Crime No. 248 of 2023, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B I.P.C. while Crl. Misc. Bail Application No. 11771 of 2026 related to Case Crime No. 255 of 2023 and Crl. Misc. Bail Application No. 11675 of 2026 related to Case Crime No. 203 of 2023 raising similar allegations. Investigation in all the three case crime numbers is being conducted jointly and as such the bail applications are being decided by a common order. 4. The Case Crime No. 203/2023, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC, Police Station Noida Sector-20, Gataum Buddh Nagar is stated to have been lodged by the informant Saurabh Dwivedi, a journalist and working as an Editor of the Lallantop internet news portal and India Today Hindi Magazine. It is alleged that came across two GST registrations viz. 03AUSPD7067N1Z3 and 27AUSPD7067N1ZT obtained in the State of Punjab and Maharashtra respectively w.e.f. 20.03.2023. These have been applied on informant PAN AUSP....
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....applicants are entirely innocent and have been falsely implicated in the respective case crime numbers for ulterior motives. The F.I.Rs. giving rise to the case crime numbers have been lodged against unknown persons by the informant-Sumit Yadav with allegations that his PAN Card bearing No. AHFPX 9874 Q has been misused for creating a bogus firm in the name and style of "Yadav Traders" with address Ground Floor, JL No. 219, Khatain No. 2275, Dag No. 1835, Sahibganj Road near Sahibganj, High School, Karinala, Khagrabari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal-736101. The said firm has been got illegally registered and the informant has nothing to do with the same. 8. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the applicants has argued that the applicants belongs to a business family and are having business in UAE, Dubai and frequently travels from India to Dubai for business and work purposes. The applicants have not been named in the F.I.R. It is further submitted that two other F.I.R.s giving rise to Case Crime No. 203 of 2023, u/s 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C. and Case Crime No. 255 of 2023 u/s 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C. have been lodged and registered at P.S. Sector-20, Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar, ag....
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....ive against the applicants. It is next submitted that Pradeep Goyal and his son Anchit Goyal were permitted to travel to India by the intervention of the Court and the "Look Out Circular/Red Corner Notices" were kept in abeyance. The applicants were arrested in India on 17.12.2025 and appeared on 19.12.2025 before the court of learned C.J.M., Gautam Buddha Nagar, and filed bail applications in all the three cases. The bail application in all the three cases were rejected and the applicants were taken under judicial custody on 19.12.2025 itself. 9. In the above backdrops, learned counsel for the applicants vehemently argues that besides the confessional statements there is absolutely no material to implicate the applicants in the commission of the crime. Admittedly, the applicants had travelled to the UAE on 14.06.2025 for business purposes as they usually did. The previous travel was on 13.02.2023. The applicants cannot be termed as an absconder as no restrictions existed for their travel abroad. Learned senior counsel has next contended that co-ordinate Bench of this Court while considering the bail pleas of co-accused as also the accused persons of Case Crime No. 203 of 2023, ....
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....s that they were working under the supervision and in association with Pradeep Goyal and six others. It has been submitted by learned A.A.G. that Pradeep Goyal and his son Anchit Goyal and others have formed a syndicate and their modus operandi configures four segments (i) assignment of job of collection of SIM Cards and personal data of people that have been uploaded on the portal of GST (ii) to use the personal data for creation of fake Firms by uploading it on GST Portal, (iii) there will be one actual Firm which will be working and money transactions will flow to this actual Firm and Input Tax Credit (ITC) be availed (iv) distribution of monetary benefits amongst all. The applicant-Pradeep Goyal has been found to be credited with five criminal cases against him including the present case. The cases registered against the applicant are (i) Crime No. 248 of 2023, u/s 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of I.P.C., P.S. Sector-20 Noida, District Gautam Buddha Nagar (present case), (ii) Case No. 255 of 2023, u/s 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B I.P.C., Sector 20, District Gautam Buddha Nagar, (iii) Case Crime No. 203 of 2023, u/s 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B I.P.C., Sector 20, District Gautam Buddha....
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....l in cases of grave offences as in the present case. Reliance has also been placed upon the decision of the Apex Court in the case of Salim Khan Vs. Sanjai Singh reported in 2002 (9) SCC 670 wherein the Apex Court while considering an application of the informant for cancellation of bail of the accused observed that the High Court was duty bound to consider all the statements recorded u/s 161 of Cr.P.C., examine the gravity of the offence and also examine the question of possibility of the accused tampering with the evidence and possibility of getting the attendance of the accused during the trial and then would be entitled to grant bail to an accused. Reliance is further placed upon a decision of the Apex Court in the case of the State of U.P. through CBI Vs. Amarmani Tripathi reported in 2005(8) SCC 21 wherein the Apex Court observed as under:- "22. While a detailed examination of the evidence is to be avoided while considering the question of bail, to ensure that there is no pre-judging and no prejudice, a brief examination to be satisfied about the existence or otherwise of a prima facie case is necessary. An examination of the material in this case, set out above, kee....
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.... or may be exculpatory in nature.Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 7532-34 of 2025 Page 28 of 35 (iii) An inculpatory statement again may be in the form of an admission or a confession. If such statement admits either a gravely incriminating fact or substantially all the facts which constitute the offence, respectively, as held in Pakala Narayana Swami (supra), then it amounts to confession. (iv) Where such police statement of an accused is confessional statement, the rigour of Section(s) 25 and 26 respectively will apply with all its vigour. A confessional statement of an accused will only be admissible if it is not hit by Section(s) 24 or 25 respectively and is in tune with the provisions of Section(s) 26, 28 and 29 of the Evidence Act respectively. In other words, a police statement of an accused which is in the form of a confession is per se inadmissible and no reliance whatsoever can be placed on such statements either at the stage of bail or during trial. Since such confessional statements are rendered inadmissible by virtue of Section 25 of the Evidence Act, the provision of Section 30 would be of no avail, and no reliance can be placed on such confessional....
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....co-accused, more particularly because it is neither required to be given on oath, nor in the presence of the co-accused, the same cannot be tested by cross-examination and the exculpatory nature of such statement militates against the foundational principle that permits taking into consideration a statement of one accused person against another co-accused as explained in Bhuboni Sahu (supra), i.e., 'when a person admits guilt to its fullest extent either to a certain incriminating fact or substantially all the facts which constitute the offence, and in doing so exposes himself and in the process other co-accused persons to the pain and penalties provided for the guilt, there exists a sincerity and semblance of sanction for the truthfulness of such statement'. (ix) Although a handful of decisions of this Court such as Indresh Kumar (supra) and Salim Khan (supra) have held that statements under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C. ought to be looked into by the courts at the stage of anticipatory or regular bail for the purpose of ascertaining whether a prima-facie case has been made out against the accused and the nature and gravity of the allegations, yet the aforesaid rule only app....
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....it emerges from the material on record, that such a person is likely to be arrayed as an accused, the courts should refrain from expressing any such opinion so that the investigation is not prejudiced in any manner." 14. While laying down the above, the Apex Court made the following observations in para no. 44, 45 & 46 of the aforesaid decision, which are as under:- "44. We are conscious of a handful of decisions of this Court wherein it has been held that statements under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C. ought to be looked into by the courts in deciding the question of grant of bail. Indresh Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr., reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 2411 observed Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 7532-34 of 2025 Page 22 of 35 that "statements under Section 161 of Cr. P.C. may not be admissible in evidence, but are relevant in considering the prima facie case against an accused in an application for grant of bail in case of grave offence". Similarly, in Salim Khan v. Sanjai Singh reported in (2002) 9 SCC 670, it was held that the court is "duty-bound to consider all the statements recorded under Section 161 CrPC, examine the gravity of the offence and also examine....