Delhi High Court Refuses To Cancel Bail In ₹72 Crore GST Evasion Case After 5 Years, Pulls Up Department For Lapse In Probe
The Delhi High Court has refused to cancel bail granted to an accused in Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion case involving alleged tax fraud of Rs. 72 crore more than 5 years ago, while strongly criticising the investigating agency for lapses in the investigation.
Justice Amit Mahajan said that the investigation was still not complete in the matter and even after a lapse of more than five years, no complaint was filed against the accused till date.
Rejecting the plea filed by Directorate General of GST Intelligence, the Court said that the accused- Kamal Kishore Aggarwal, cannot be subjected to “unending incarceration” merely at the whims of the department when the department itself has taken no active steps in the case.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) challenged a 2020 order of a trial court that had granted bail to Aggarwal, who was accused of evading GST through the clandestine supply of cigarettes under Section 132 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
The DGGI argued that the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had erred in granting bail at an early stage of investigation in a serious economic offence, particularly when the alleged evasion amounted to Rs. 72 crore and the accused had deposited only Rs. 1.35 crore towards GST dues.
Dismissing the plea, the Court noted that despite the fact that the investigation was taken up by the GST department way back in the year 2020, no criminal complaint was filed till date. It said that even as on date, the department was still in the process of filing the complaint.
The Court said that even if the accused had remained in custody, he would have undoubtedly been entitled for default bail on the department not completing the investigation in the stipulated time.
“Although the learned CMM ought to have given more deference to the gravity of offence, the lackadaisical and lethargic approach of the department do not merit interference in the liberty granted to the respondent at this juncture,” the Court said.
It added that it was not the case of the department that Aggarwal had misused the liberty pursuant to being admitted on bail. The Court said that the only interest of the department was in the custody of the accused and not in the adjudication of the case.
“In view of the same, this Court finds no reason to cancel the bail granted to the respondent after more than five years,” the Court said.
Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. Satish Aggarwala, SSC with Mr. Gagan Vaswani, Adv
Counsel for Respondent: Mr. Ankit Acharya, Ms. Pratiksha Sharma, Ms. Ritu Chaudhary, Mr. Ayush Jain & Mr. Mukesh Kumar, Advs
Title: DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF GST INTELLIGENCE v. KAMAL KISHORE AGGARWAL