CA Allegedly Involved In Preparation Of Forged Certificates For Bogus Companies To Claim GST Refund: Gurugram Court Refuses Bail

The Bench of Manoj Kumar Rana (Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate) observed that the CA is involved in causing a loss to the government treasury to the tune of Rs.7,60,89,626/-. Thus, he has committed an offence under Section 132 (1) (i) read with 132(1) (b) (c) (e) (f) CGST Act 2017. CA has actively participated in the preparation of forged certificates for bogus or non-existent companies to claim a GST refund, causing loss to the public exchequer.

The applicant/accused has been practising as a C.A. for the past 6 years. The applicant submitted that he was falsely implicated with the allegations that the UDIN number, ID, and password of the applicant had been misused by co-accused Gaurav Dhir. As per the allegations in the complaint, the applicant is not accused of misappropriation of a single rupee.

The applicant argued that no offence under Section 132 (b), (c), or (d) of the CGST Act was made out against the applicant and nothing was recovered from the applicant.

The applicant prayed for the granting of bail.

The department contended that the applicant was involved in causing a loss to the government treasury to the tune of Rs. 7,60,89,626. As a result, he has committed an offence under Section 132 (1)(i) read with Section 132(1)(b)(c)(e)(f) CGST Act 2017 because he actively participated in the preparation of forged certificates for bogus/non-existent companies to claim a GST refund, causing loss to the public exchequer.

The department urged that the applicant has committed an economic offence, which attacks the economy of the country.

The court, while dismissing the bail application, noted that the investigation of the case is at a nascent stage and the nature of the offence is very serious.

Case Title: CGST, Gurugram. Vs. Sunil Mehlawat

Citation: CNR No. HRGR03-042013-2022

Dated: 21.05.2022

Counsel For Applicant: Advocates Vipin Gupta & Harsh Sethi

Counsel For Department: Senior Standing Counsel Satish Aggarwal

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