PARESH NATHALAL CHAUHAN Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This application is filed seeking bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ( for short ' Cr.P.C ') in respect of the offence punishable under Section132(1)(b)(c) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 for which complaint being File No. CCST/DCST/ENF-CO/AC-1/Paresh Chauhan Case/ 2019-20 / B-42 came to be registered with office of Chief Commissioner of State Tax, Gujarat State, Ahmedabad.

(2.) The petitioner has been arrested for the offence punishable under section 132 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The principal allegation against the petitioner is of his having obtained the tax credit to an extent of about Rs. 60 Crores through fictitious firms allegedly established by him in connivance with other persons who of course at the moment are not arraigned as accused. The maximum punishment for the offence is five years imprisonment.

(3.) The quantum of the sentence, recording of the statements of as many as 35 beneficiaries of the transactions, recovery of Rs. 14 Crores from them, the quantum of the amount involved, non- arrest of the persons allegedly conniving with the petitioner in the commission of offence as also heart ailment of the petitioner i.e. insertion of two stents in his heart are pressed into service as grounds for admitting the petitioner to bail. It is also submitted that the contention of the learned prosecutor that investigation is in progress shows filing of halfhearted complaint against the petitioner in defiance of Section 167 of Cr.P.C inasmuch as the only purpose of such hasty complaint appears to be depriving the petitioner of benefit of default bail under section 167 of Cr.P.C. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner this is a fraud on the statute. It was also argued that no assessment notice has been issued to the petitioner and thus prosecution has no case to prove against the petitioner. Reliance has been placed upon Sanjay Chandra vs. Central Bureau of Investigation - (2012) 1 SCC 40.