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2024 (5) TMI 607 - BOMBAY HIGH COURTSeeking grant of bail - Illegal arrest or not - blocking of the Input Tax Credit - detention for more than 24 hours - HELD THAT:- The petitioner appears to have been detained for more than 24 hours. Prima facie, the justification given by the respondent No. 2 explaining the detention of the petitioner, does not appear to reason, considering the conflicting stand taken by the respondent No. 2 in their affidavit filed in this Court and their reply filed before the trial Court. It is also pertinent to note that the GST investigation of the Company was done, sometime in 2021 and that the petitioner had appeared before the authorities on behalf of the said Company. It also appears that a full-fledged inquiry was done in 2021 and the authorities had audited the accounts of the years 2017 to 2020. The time span mentioned by the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 for generating the GST returns and getting the Dowment Identification Number (DIN), prima facie appears to be an eyewash and appears to have been done to show, that the petitioner was produced within 24 hours. There was no reason for the respondent No. 2 to keep the petitioner overnight, when he came on 13th March 2023, more particularly, if the respondent No. 2 did not have documents to question the petitioner. It is not as if, the petitioner had not cooperated with the authorities and as such, it was well within the powers of the respondent No. 2 to call him on some other day or even on the next day - Arrest is a serious matter and cannot be made in a routine manner on a mere allegation of commission of an offence, inasmuch as, an arrest can cause incalculable harm to the reputation and self esteem of a person. It is deemed appropriate to grant interim bail to the petitioner, pending the hearing and final disposal of the aforesaid petition, on the terms and conditions imposed - it is ordered that the petitioner be released on cash bail in the sum of Rs. 25,000/-, for a period of six weeks - petitioner shall within the said period of six weeks, furnish P.R. Bond in the sum of Rs. 25,000/- with one or two sureties in the like amount. Petition be listed on 24th June 2024 for admission.
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