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2022 (3) TMI 977 - ALLAHABAD HIGH COURTSeeking grant of anticipatory bail - fraudulent availment of inadmissible Input Tax Credit (ITC) - bailable offence or not - present dispute is much less than ₹ 5 crore - Whether an application under Section 438 Cr.P.C. would lie and is maintainable for an offence which has been declared by the concerned statute as a bailable offence? - HELD THAT:- The provision of anticipatory bail as per its scheme can be invoked by a person who has a "reason to believe that he may be arrested" for committing a "non - bailable offence". In the case Onkar Nath Agrawal v. State [1976 (1) TMI 189 - ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT] it was held that the power under section 438 Cr.P.C. is not to be exercised in vacuum but only on the satisfaction of the conditions spelled out in the section itself. It is thus concluded that the conditions prerequisite for the court's exercise of its discretion under Section 438 Cr.P.C. is that the person seeking such relief must have a reasonable apprehension of his arrest on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence - The question thus gets answered by the discussion that an application under Section 438 Cr.P.C. is only maintainable by a person who has apprehension of his arrest on accusation of having committed a non - bailable offence. Section 132 of the Act lists 12 offences that are punishable with imprisonment and/or a fine. The terms of imprisonment and the amount of fine, is dependent on the amount involved in the offence, or in some cases, the act committed by the offender - In the present case, it is a common ground between the applicants and the opposite party No. 3 that the offences are bailable. Even para-28 of the counter affidavit to the said effect stands unrebutted. The question thus being answered by holding that granting of anticipatory bail does not arise for an offence which is bailable and a direction for the same can be issued only in respect of non-bailable and cognizable offences, the present anticipatory bail application deserves rejection - Application rejected.
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