TMI Blog2021 (12) TMI 1264X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... present application under Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, the applicant requested to release him on regular bail in Case No. 878/RA of 2021 pending before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, 8th Court at Esplanade, Mumbai. 2. Admittedly, the applicant is director of M/s. SPN Gold India Pvt. Ltd., engaged in the business of trading in gold. Respondent No.1 is the Central Goods and Service Tax Authority. 3. Case of the respondent/prosecution is that on the basis of intelligence inputs enquiry against M/s. SPN Gold was initiated. In the enquiry till date it is found that the applicant availed and passed on inadmissible Input Tax Credit (ITC) of ₹ 11,01,04,357/- using fake invoices or bills issued by M/s. M.M.Bullion, M/s. Goldmine Bullion, M/s. Gajmukhi Bullion and M/s. Golden Bullion, without supply of goods. Thus, the applicant committed offences punishable under Sections 132(1)(b) and (c) of the CGST Act. 4. The learned advocate Shri. Ashok Singh for the applicant argued that all precautions were taken by the applicant while dealing in the transactions. The applicant has maintained all the tax registers, purchase registers, bank statements in re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndia, 2019 (31) GSTL 53 (Bom.) 10- Meghraj Moolchand Burad (Jain) V/s. Diretorate of General of GST Intelligence, 2019(24) GSTL J82 (SC). 11- D. K. Shivakumar V/s. Directorate of Enforcement 2020 (371) ELT 40 (Del.) 12- P. Chidambaram V/s. Directorate of Enforcement, Criminal Appeal No.1831 of 2019 decided on 04.12.2019 by Hon ble Supreme Court of India. 13- Sanjay Maheshwari V/s. Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), 2015 (322) ELT 305 (Del.) 14- A. Tajudeen V/s. Union Of India, 2015 (317) ELT 177 (SC). 15- Paramvir Singh Saine V/s. Baljit Singh Ors., Spl. Leave Petition (Cri.) 3543 of 2020, decided on 02.12.2020 by Hon ble Supreme Court of India. 16- Akhil Krishan Maggu V/s. Dy. Dir. G.D.of GST Intelligence, 2020 (32) GSTL 516 (P H) 17- Makemytrip (India) Pvt. Ltd V/s. Union of India, 2016 (44) STR 481 (Del) 18- Sh. Raghav Agarwal V/s. Commissioner of Central Tax and GST Delhi North, BA 4019 of 2020 decided on 21.12.2020 by Hon ble Delhi High court. 19- Jayachandran Alloys (P) Ltd V/s. Superitendent of GST C. Ex., Salem, 2019 (25) GSTL 321 (Mad.) 20- Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre V/s. State of Maha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s. State of Gujrat, R/Spl. Civil application No.13679 of 2019 decided on 20.10.2020 by Hon ble Gujrat High Court. 9. I have gone through the case laws as cited. In the case of Sanjay Maheshwari it was appeal against order of customs, excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal. The case of A. Tajuddin is in respect of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. In the case of Paramveer Saini directions were given for installation of CCTVs in the offices of the agency carrying out interrogations. In the case of Siddhram Mhetre the decisions in the cases of Salauddin Shaikh, Adridharan Das and Sunita Devi are held to be per incurriam. The case of Anil Mahajan is in respect of bail under the Customs Act. In the case of Sanjay Chandra bail was granted in the economic offence. 10. In the cases of Abhay Bhatt , Hanumanthappa Patherera , Manmohan Lalman , Sharavan Mehra , Meghraj Mulchand Burad , D.K.Shivakumar , P.Chidambaram , Raghav Agarwal , Vijay Chandrakant Trivedi , H.B.Chaturvedi , Bail/Anticipatory Bail were granted in the facts and circumstances of those respective cases. In the case of Sapna Jain ad-interim relief not to take coercive action was continued. In t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e act arises only on completion of investigation when criminal prosecution is to be lodged. It was also observed that simply because investigation are underway, it does not mean that arrest should be effected. 16. In the case of Daulat Mehta , the decision in the case of Arnesh Kumar , Arnab Goswami , the decision in the case of Make My Trip , the decisions in Sapna Jain and P. V. Ramanareddy have been considered. In Daulat Mehta s case the Hon ble Bombay High Court held that the expression reasons to believe as appearing in Sub-section 1 of Section 69 is of crucial importance because the same is sine qua non for exercise of power to arrest by the commissioner. In the same case, there was no material showing that the principal additional director general had reasons to believe to order the arrest. 17. In the case of Nimmagadda Prasad , the Hon ble Hon'ble Supreme Court held that, Economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. The economic offence having deep rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds needs to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t had the whatsapp chat with Deepesh, he would have disclosed the same at that time to the respondent. In this background, the whatsapp chat cannot be relied on at this stage. It is unequivocal that applicants contention is not genuine. There is no material regarding the delivery of goods. Suffice it to say that the investigation at this stage prima facie reveals that the applicant availed and passed on ineligible ITC to the tune of more than 11 crores. 21. Turning to the technical contention regarding the reasons to believe for commissioner, in course of enquiry the documents were verified statement of applicant and witnesses were recorded prior to the arrest of the applicant. Thus, by the time the applicant was arrested, there was ample material before the respondent to have reasons to believe to arrest the accused. The arrest memorandum reveals that it was by the Inspector Wasim Akhtar mentioned therein that he has reasons to believe. In other words, the same arrest memorandum does not mention that the reasons to believe were for the commissioner. However, the arrest memorandum also mentions that the Inspector has been authorized. The Section 69 of CGST Act empowers the commi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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