RAMESHCHANDRA MANILAL KOTIA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petition Nos. 106 of 1997, 661, 663 and 110 of 1997 are for offences under the Companies Act and Petition Nos. 662, 108, 107, 109, 664, 665, 666, 3085 and 3086 all of 1997 are for offences under the Indian Penal Code. These two groups of matters, though apparently filed for offences under different Acts, are very much interconnected not only because of the parties joined, but also because of the factual background which they share in different complaints allegedly constituting the offence under either the Companies Act or under the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) As many as 19 accused came to be joined in different complaints in respect of which, in all, aforesaid 13 petitions have been filed. Accused No. 1 and accused No. 7 in all the complaints are respectively a Private Limited Company and a Public Limited Company. Accused Nos. 2 to 6 are connected with accused No. 1 Company either as a Director or as a Managing Director, as the case may be. Same is the situation with regard to accused Nos. 8 to 19 in relation to accused No. 7 Company.

(3.) Accused No. 7 Company had decided to come out with a public issue on or about 9-12-1995 worth Rs. 446.76 lakhs. 44,67,600 Equity Shares of the face value of Rs. 10.00 were, therefore, floated and offered to public.