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2022 (1) TMI 1172 - SC - Indian LawsValidity of bail granted - siphoning of funds - shell companies - by the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has directed to release Respondent No.2 on bail merely on the ground that the case arises out of a commercial transaction and is based on documents already seized - proper investigations not carried out by High Court - HELD THAT:- While releasing the Respondent No.2 on bail the High Court has not at all adverted to and/or considered the nature of accusation and the material found/collected during the course of investigation and the serious allegations of siphoning off the huge amount through various shell companies. The High Court has not at all dealt with and/or considered any of the allegations and/or material collected during the course of the investigation which were specifically pointed out and mentioned in the status report filed by the I.O. From the status report and even the chargesheet/supplementary chargesheet papers it has been found during the course of the investigation that a sum of ₹ 25 crores was disbursed by the complainant to Respondent No.2 and its company M/s LMJ Logistics Limited. The said amount was disbursed for its own use. All these allegations and the material collected during the course of the investigation which are being part of the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet are not taken note of by the High Court and the High Court has just simply ignored the same and has released Respondent No.2 on bail by simply observing that case arises out of a commercial transaction and the dispute is of a civil nature. Therefore, the High Court has not at all taken into consideration the relevant considerations while grant of bail. Even the High Court has not at all taken note of the reasoning given by the learned Sessions Court while rejecting the bail application of Respondent No.2. Whether the High Court is at all justified in releasing Respondent No.2 on bail? - HELD THAT:- In the instant case, while dealing with the application of the accused for grant of bail, the High Court completely lost sight of the basic principles enumerated above. The accused, in the present case, is alleged to have committed a heinous crime of killing an old helpless lady by strangulation. He was seen coming out of the victim's house by a neighbour around the time of the alleged occurrence, giving rise to a reasonable belief that he had committed the murder - under the given circumstances, it was not the stage at which bail under Section 439 of the Code should have been granted to the accused, more so, when even charges have not yet been framed - The High Court has also not taken into consideration the status report filed by the I.O. in which in detail it has been pointed out how systematically the accused have committed the offence and misappropriated/siphoned off the huge sum through shell companies. Thus, it appears that the High Court has not adverted to the relevant considerations and has granted the bail mechanically by observing that the case arises out of a commercial transaction. While releasing Respondent no.2 on bail, the High Court has not at all considered the relevant factors including the nature and gravity of accusation; the modus operandi and the manner in which the offences have been committed through shell companies and creating the false/forged documents and/or misusing the PAN Cards, Aadhar Cards and KYCs of the employees and showing them as Directors of the fake and shell companies - the High Court has not at all considered and taken into consideration the status report and the evidence collected during the course of the investigation. Therefore, the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court releasing Respondent No.2 on bail is unsustainable as the High Court while releasing Respondent No.2 on bail has not exercised the jurisdiction judiciously and has not considered the relevant factors which are required to be considered while grant of bail. The impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court releasing Respondent No.2 on bail deserves to be quashed and set aside and is accordingly quashed and set aside - Appeal allowed.
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