IMPORTANT POINT
The seriousness of economic offences and the need for a different approach in bail matters concerning economic crimes.

JUDGMENT

Navin Chawla, J. (Oral) - This application has been filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short, `Cr.P.C.') praying for the applicant to be released on bail in FIR No.0018/2020 registered at Police Station EOW, Mandir Marg, Delhi under Sections 420/468/471/120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short, `IPC').

Case of the prosecution:

2. It is the case of the prosecution that the above FIR was registered on a complaint received from the Assistant General Manager, Allahabad Bank stating that the said Bank, having its Branch at Amity University, Sector 125, Noida, maintains a Savings Bank Account in the name of the said University. From this account, three cheques, purported to be issued by the said University, were presented for encashment; one of which for an amount of Rs.2,50,30,600/- was presented for encashment in the account of N.S. Infrastructure, of which the wife of the applicant is a partner and the mobile phone number of the applicant is the registered phone number. The second cheque for an amount of Rs.2,70,30,400/-, was presented for encashment in the name of Maa Tapit Manav Sewa Sansthan. These two cheques were duly honoured, and the amounts were duly transferred. When the third cheque was presented for encashment in the name of Bhavishyahub Extro World Pvt. Ltd., forgery in the cheque was noticed and the amount which was honoured by the bank, was reverted back on the same day and a complaint in this regard was made.

3. Prosecution alleges that, on further inquiry, it was found that these cheques were in the possession of the Bank itself and had not been dispatched to the customer. They were forged and fabricated. It is further found that the amount credited in the account of Maa Tapit Manav Sewa Sansthan and N.C. Construction was further diverted in favour of five shell companies from where they were further diverted to different accounts.

4. The investigation further revealed that another amount of Rs.2,07,90,000/- was transferred from the account of Maa Tapit Manav Sewa Sansthan to the account of N.S. Construction, out of which a sum of Rs.1,96,00,000/- was transferred to the account of five shell companies in Delhi. The prosecution alleges that, therefore, N.S. Construction and N.S. Infrastructure, in both of which, the wife of the applicant is a partner and mobile number of the applicant is the registered mobile phone number for the said accounts of the company, had received a total sum of Rs.4.57 crores out of which Rs.4,15,94,000/- had been transferred to five shell companies, while the remaining Rs.42,26,600/- had been kept with the applicant as his share of the proceeds of the crime.

5. It is further alleged that during the course of investigation, co-accused Amit Aggarwal has been arrested and he has disclosed that on instructions of the applicant, he has handed over a sum of Rs.1.52 crores of the amount so siphoned to the co-accused Sudama Narware and Sanjay.

6. It is further alleged that the co-accused Sudama Narware, Nitin Jain and Ashok Aggarwal are absconding.

Submissions of the learned counsel for the Applicant

7. The learned counsel for the applicant submits that the investigation in the case is complete and the charge-sheet already stands filed. He further submits that the accounts of N.S. Infrastructure and N.S. Construction already stand attached and, in fact, recovery of around Rs.50 lakhs has been made from the account of N.S. Infrastructure, that is, more than the amount that is being attributed to have been kept by the applicant as his share from the proceeds of crime. He further submits that the recovery has also been made from the account of Maa Tapit Manav Sewa Sansthan as is reflected in the charge-sheet.

8. He submits that the applicant himself is a victim of the fraud inasmuch as he had been lured by the co-accused Sudama Narware to deposit these cheques, as the applicant needed to show huge deposits in the bank accounts of the two Companies so as to be ab