Anticipatory bail may be granted when the accused has clean past antecedents and lacks direct evidence connecting them to the alleged crime.

ORDER

Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, J. This is an application under Section 438 Cr.PC filed on behalf of the petitioner seeking grant of anticipatory bail in case No. RC-DAI-2021-A-0032 registered under Sections 420/467/120-B IPC read with Section 66D of the IT Act.

2. In brief, as per the case of prosecution, on the basis of source information, the present FIR/RC was registered, wherein it was stated that National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous testing organization is entrusted by the Government of India with the task of conducting free and fair examinations for admission to premier higher education institutions. One of such examinations is Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) conducted for admission to Undergraduate Engineering Programs (B.E/B. Tech). The fourth session of JEE (Mains), 2021 in Computer Based Test (CBT) was conducted on 26th, 27th, 31st August and 1st and 2nd September, 2021 at different centers located in major cities throughout the country and abroad.

It is further the case of prosecution that V. Mani Tripathi, Siddharth Krishna and Govind Vaarshney were the directors/signatories of M/s Affinity Education Pvt. Ltd. having its office at NOIDA, Gautam Budh Nagar. Also one Ms. Seema was the counselor of admission for Delhi/NCR and Ms. Anjuman Dawoodani was the counselor of admission for Maharashtra. Both the abovementioned persons were assisting V. Mani Tripathi, Siddharth Krishna and Govind Varshenen in soliciting and managing admission in top NITs and reputed engineering colleges by adopting fraudulent means and unfair practices.

It is further alleged that Rs.10-15 lacs were being demanded from the parents of aspiring students for which they were asked to deposit Post Dated Cheques for an assured admission. The user ID and password of candidates appearing for examination were also collected for getting desired examination centers. The modus operandi was that above persons would arrange a solver sitting at remote location for solving the questions which were displayed on the computer terminal allotted to the candidates. The centre supervisor, who would access to the computer network, was also a part of fraudulent act.

The above persons are stated to have connived with the supervisor of JEE (Mains), 2021, Session-4 exam centres at Sonipat and made necessary arrangements for fraudulent practices. During investigation, 3-4 candidates alleged that were given solved question paper several hours prior to the exam and were taken to some flat at Rohini in the wee-hours and were given solved question papers to memorize, which came in the exam. The investigation team was led to Flat No. 546, Paradise Apartments, Sector-18, Rohini. The owner of the said flat disclosed that the same was rented to the petitioner Ashish and Sunil (a relative of Ashish) who were residents of Rohini. The owner of the flat further informed that he had requested one of his colleagues to help in renting out of the flat and she had contacted Alka Sharma, a property dealer of the locality and given her keys for purpose of renting the property. The petitioner and co-accused Sunil who were known to Alka Sharma took the flat on rent from her saying that a lady namely SI Priyanka Dagar, whose flat in the same apartment was under renovation, required the flat for a period of three months. SI Priyanka Dagar stated that the flat was under renovation and she had placed some of her articles in the said flat and thereafter removed the same. Both Alka Sharma as well as SI Priyanka Dagar stated that the flat remained in possession of the petitioner and co-accused Sunil. It is also the case of the prosecution that the petitioner and co-accused Sunil had helped the aspirants in memorizing the que