AVTAR SINGH WALIA Vs. CHANDIGARH ADMINISTRATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a Criminal miscellaneous Petition No. 10050-M of 1996 filed by Avtar Singh Walia, petitioner whereby he has prayed for the grant of anticipatory bail to him in case FIR No. 4 of 1996 of PS Central, Chandigarh under Sections 406/420 IPC read with Section 25 of Immigration Act. According to the prosecution, Avtar Singh assured Harjit Singh to send him abroad and arrange a very good job for him there. He took a sum of Rs. 50,000/- from him by way of initial expenses and told him that he would get the balance amount of Rs. 20,000/- from him after arranging visa for him. He accepted the proposal put forth by him bona fide under the belief that he had known his relatives who are residents of H. No. 74, Sector 33-A, Chandigarh and were residing abroad and he must be a reliable person. He told him that there was one Kasturi Lal Sachdeva resident of H. No. 85, Sector 33- A, Chandigarh who was aslo interested in going abroad. He further told him that he would also accompany them for arranging suitable job for them and also arranging accommodation for them there. For carrying out the nefarious designs, he floated a bogus firm K.H. Import and Export showing both of them as partners i.e. Harjit Singh and Sachdeva and got this firm registered in the Govt. of India office Sector 35, Chandigarh. He also got opened current account of this firm in Punjab National Bank, Sector 33-A, Chandigarh. Harjit Singh was asked to depostit Rs. 2.00 lakhs in this account and he would get this amount transferred to his account at an appropriate time. Harjit Singh arranged the requisite amount and deposited Rs. 2.00 lakhs in the said account in the name of M/s. K.H. Import and Export through bank drafts. He (petitioner) told Harjit Singh that he would be arranging sponsorship for him from Japan and then arrange visa on his passport within a month or so and then he would call him. After two months, when Harjit Singh heard nothing, he contacted Avtar Singh personally. Avtar Singh told him that he had sponsorship from Japan but that was of his own passport and that his previous passport had been seized in Dubai in the year 1993 and that he had applied for a fresh passport. Petitioner assured him that he would be accompanying him to Japan as soon as he was able to get fresh passport. Harjit Sing met petitioner (Avtar Singh Walia) in his office but no response came. During December 1993, petitioner received sponsorship for Harjit Singh and Kasturi Lal and he told him that he would be getting visas within a few days. Petitioner told them that they should transfer the settled amount in the current account of the firm 3-B International in the Oriental Bank of Commerce, Sector 17, Chandigarh. As desired by the petitioner Cheque No. 145401 dated 28.12.1993 for Rs. 1 lakh was issued to the petitioner and Rs. 2 lakhs was withdrawn vide Cheque No. 145402 dated 28.12.1993 from the Punjab National Bank, Sector 33-A, Chandigarh.

(2.) THIS amount was deposited in Oriental Bank of Commerce, Sector 17, Chandigarh in 3-B International account including Rs. 1 lakh as share of the other aspirant i.e. Kasturi Lal. Harjit Singh was asked to keep his bag and baggage ready and he would intimate him the flight number and the time table as and when he got intimation about the flight number and the time table. Harjit Singh was taken in by this talk of Avtar Singh Walia as he was unemployed and he promised to send him abroad and arrange a job for him there. Petitioner got their signatures of 20 blank slips duly stamped with revenue stamps after the deposit of amount in his bank account and told them that he was doing so in order to satisfy the Income Tax authorities and that it was only a formality. He contacted Avtar Singh several times and requested to sent him abroad and arrange a job for him or else he should refund him a sum of Rs. 2.50 lakhs but to no effect. Avtar Singh Walia thus cheated him of a sum of Rs. 2.50 lakhs. It was all a fraud on his part. It was not a genuine firm which he allegedly floated. K.M. Import and Export was a fictitious firm and the account opened in the Punjab National Bank in the name of said firm was also a fictitious account. To further camouflage Avtar Singh Walia withdrew a sum of Rs. 2 lakhs through Cheque No. 145402 dated 28.12.1993 from the Punjab National Bank, Sector 33-A, Chandigarh and deposited this amount in the account of 3-B International in Oriental Bank of Commerce, Sector 17, Chandigarh as also the amount of Rs. 1 lakh as share of the other aspirant.

(3.) ANNEXURE P5 is the copy of the said form. It was submitted that Harjit Singh was running partnership business with Kasturi Lal Sachdeva and got invested Rs. 1 lakh in his firm K.H. Import and Export from the petitioner. Application for getting the code number from the Reserve Bank of India could not materialise. Harjit Singh approached the petitioner to join them in the transaction of the already placed orders by the firm of the petitioner for the shipment of three containers from GBS International in the name of firm of petitioner who was holding code number of the Reserve Bank of India for import and export of raw material and on 28.12.1993, Kasturi Lal Sachdeva went along with Harjit Singh and Jaswant Singh with the invoice signed by Harjit Singh Liaison Manager of GBS International to share the profit by joining hands with the petitioner. A sum of Rs. 2.5 lakhs was deposited by Kasturi Lal Sachdeva and Harjit Singh in the bank account of the firms of the petitioner. Invoices were also got deposited with the bank of the petitioner. Annexures P6, P7, and P8 are the copies of the invoices. There was thus transaction between petitioner and partners of M/s K.H. Import and Export to share the profits by selling three containers which were to be received from GBS International in the name of the firm of the petitioner. It was submitted that Harjit Singh had falsely alleged that he had given Rs. 50,000/- in one instalment and Rs. 2 lakhs as one instalment to petitioner for sending him abroad. Fact of the matter is that Harjit Singh and Kasturi Lal Sachdeva invested Rs. 2.5 lakhs on 28.12.1993 for sharing the sale proceeds of three containers which were to be received by petitioner from GBS International through Harjit Singh, Liaison Manager of GBS International. It was submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner was not running a travel agency. He was rather a Govt. recognized exporter and income tax assessee holding permit for export from Reserve Bank of India and getting incentive from the Finance Department of the Central Govt. every year. In support of this submission he drew my attention to Annexures P17 to P26. Kasturi Lal Sachdeva and Harjit Singh invested the amount on behalf of their concern in the business of petitioner. It was submitted that K.H. Import and Export was a partnership firm in which Kasturi Lal Sachdeva and Harjit Singh were partners.