TMI Blog2022 (3) TMI 1046X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ecide the above mentioned two petitions, in which the petitioners prays for anticipatory bail and for not taking any coercive action against them in case they appear in compliance of the summon/notice dated 28.5.2021 and 13.11.2021, respectively, issued under Section 70 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. It is worth noticing that the petitioners have filed connected CRM-M-44640-2021 titled Manjit Singh and others Vs. Union of India and others in which a direction is sought to hand over the investigation of the aforesaid complaint titled as Inspector (Preventive) CGST Commissionerate, Ludhiana Vs. Baljinder Singh to some other office; like Central Bureau of Investigation and to provide protection to the petitioners. Counsel for the petitioners submit that the petitioners are whistle blowers as they have made complaints against the officers to the various departments of Central Bureau of Investigation and Central Vigilance Commission and also filed a Criminal Writ Petition before this Court to take action on their complaints. Counsel for the petitioners further submit that, in fact, the petitioners have brought to the fore of the misdeed of one Baljinde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... laint against the persons who have joined the investigation have already been filed and the supplementary complaint will be filed against the petitioners as due to pendency of these two petitions, it could not be filed. In para 40 of the status report it is specifically stated that both petitioners Manjit Kumar and Hardeep Singh appeared before Superintendent, CGST Commissionerate, Ludhiana on 9.3.2022 and submitted their letters as per directions of this Court claiming to be whistle blowers in the bogus billing case of Baljinder Singh. They were issued summons under Section 70 of the CGST Act, 2017 and both of them confessed that, they in connivance with Baljinder Singh are receiving benefits on the basis of bogus bills without supply of any material in the firm owned by them, namely M/s R.N.G. Traders, M/s Raj Enterprises, M/s Deep Enterprises and M/s Diksha Yarn Traders are thus, availing and passing fake ITC. It is further stated that there is no intentional lapse on the part of the department and, in fact, the petitioners, in a calculated and noble method, have started filing the complaints against Baljinder Singh and the officials of the department by posing themselves as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ubmitted that they have appeared voluntarily to tender statement as per directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case filed by them stating them to be whistle blower in the bogus billing case of Baljinder Singh. Accordingly, summons under Section 70 of the CGST Act, 2017 were issued to both Manjit Kumar and Hardeep Singh and their statements were recorded on 9.3.2022 by the Superintendent (Anti-Evasion), CGST Commissionerate, Ludhiana wherein, inter alias, both confessed to have connived with Baljinder Singh in receipt and issuance of bogus bills without any materials in the firms owned by him, namely, M/s RNG Traders and M/s Raj Enterprises and thus availing and passing on of fake ITC. 41. From the foregoing, the investigations conducted by the department can broadly be summarised as under :- In the present scam of bogus billing eight persons have been arrested by the CGST Department so far out of which seven persons have been arrested after Baljinder Singh was arrested on 25.3.2021, detailed as below :- Sr.No.. Name of Person arrested Related firms Date of arrest ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction 70 of the CGST Act, 2017. (viii) Summons to numerous buyers/recipients of ITC passed on by various firms controlled by Shri Baljinder Singh @ Bunty have been issued as result of which reversal of ITC has been made by various such buyers. In some cases, interest and/or penalty has also been paid besides the ITC amount involved. SUBMISSIONS I. As directed by the Hon ble Court vide order dated 23.11.2021, that under what circumstances, Baljinder Singh was able to secure a default bail , it is humbly submitted that :- (i) As explained above, the investigation in the cases of fraudulent availment and passing of fake Input Tax Credit on the basis of fake invoices without accompanying goods needs thorough examination considering various angles such as analysis of GST Returns, Bank Documents, Statements of persons involved in the case, E-way Bill Portal data, Physical Verification, Analysis of Electronic Devices, analysis through Analytical tools of the GST Department. For completing the investigation, the above mentioned examinations are usually done which takes a long time as most of the investigation is dependent on the persons/documents which are outside the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ITC and analysis thereof is a time taking process. (f) Further, each case involves checking thousands of invoices issued and reflected in GSTR 1 of the suppliers and the impugned parties. (g) Also analysis of e-way Bill portal vis-a-vis toll date is a time consuming process. Further for alleged intra-state movement of goods shown, the vehicles declared are checked in Government portal like Parivahan website and takes much time for each and every vehicles involved. (h) Further, it pertinent to mention her that in majority of the cases being investigated by other economic agencies also, it usually takes more than 60 days and the accused are able to secure default bail. There is no provision to file additional complaint like there is provision of file additional challan/charge sheet under the Cr.P.C., hence to ensure that the prosecution does not fail the case/complaint is submitted only when majority of the aspects have been dealt with. (i) Above all, for past few months there have been COVID-19 pandemic which also prevented regular functioning of the offices. (j) Further, shortage of staff at executive level also hampered the department from completing the i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y Shri Baljinder Singh @ Bunty. Shri Sukhvir Kumar was placed under arrest under authorisation of Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017. Further, Manjit Kumar and Hardeep Singh in their respective statements dated 9.3.2022 recorded under Section 70 of the CGST Act, 2017 and confessed to have connived with Baljinder Singh in receipt and issuance of bogus bills without any materials and thus, availing and passing of the ITC. After hearing the counsel for the parties, I find no merit in the petitions for anticipatory bail filed by the petitioners as well as in the petition seeking direction to transfer the investigation of the case to an agency like; CBI/CVC for the following reasons : - (a) In both the petitions, the petitioners have deliberately concealed their status of being an active partner of main accused Baljinder Singh and having created four firms, i.e. two firms by petitioner No.1 i.e. M/s R.N.G. Traders and M/s Raj Enterprises and two other firms by petitioner No.2, i.e. M/s Deep Enterprises and M/s Diksha Yarn Traders. (b) It is the case of the department that by creating the said firms and, as per CGST returns, i.e. GSTR-3B, both the petitioners have availe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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