Economic offences of huge magnitude with deep conspiracy and public fund loss require stringent bail denial, prioritizing offence gravity, prima facie evidence, tampering/fleeing risks over custody duration, medical pleas, or trial delays.

JUDGMENT :
Sushil Kukreja, Judge

The instant bail application has been filed by the petitioner under Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (for short “BNSS”) for grant of regular bail in case FIR No. 120 of 2023, dated 24.09.2023, under Sections 420 and 120B of Indian Penal Code (for short “IPC”), read with Section 59 of the HP Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, 1999 and Sections 21 and 23 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019, registered at Police Station Palampur, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.

2. Brief facts of the case, as per the prosecution story, are that on the basis of written complaint made by one Shri Arun Singh Guleria (complainant) on 24.09.2023, a case was registered at Police Station Palampur, District Kangra, HP. It was alleged in the said complaint that a group of individuals, including Subhash Sharma, Hem Raj, Sukhdev (residents of Mandi), Abhishek Sharma (resident of Una), and Milan Garg, (resident of Meerut, UP), were engaged in fraudulent activities related to crypto-currency H.P. On the advice of accused Subhash Sharma, the complainant alongwith others had invested in a website, i.e., www.voscrow.io, which was owned by accused Subhash Sharma alongwith Milan Garg and in lieu of their investments, virtual currency was provided through the website. Accused Subhash Sharma alongwith promoters Sukh Dev Thakur and Abhishek Sharma, allegedly cheated the general public through websites, like Voscrow and Hypenext. During the period between 2019-2020, the aforesaid persons promised the individuals to double their money and such promises continued till 2021 and during that period, some individuals received distributions of funds against their investments, which led to increase in the investments, resultantly many people invested. On 25.12.2021, the allocations were halted by Subhash Sharma and later on, he assured that the allocations would resume soon. Subsequently, Subhash Sharma tied-up with Hypenext, which was owned by Milan Garg and on being persuaded, the people invested/reinvested in Hypenext again and they also received partial funds against their investments, which practice continued till 2022. Thereafter, due to technical issues, the company requested five months’ time for payment qua which, through a video, Subhash Sharma and Milan Garg informed the entire community. In total, the amount involved was Rs.18 Crores and they acknowledged and promised to activate new IDs on 8th August, 2023 at Aglobal.io, however, neither his (complainant) community, nor he received any money. Hence, it was alleged that Milan Garg, Subhash Sharma, Hemraj, Sukhdev Thakur and Abhishek Sharma defrauded the people by creating fake website and it was a well-planned conspiracy.

3. As per the FIR, the accused persons were involved in fraudulent activities related to crypto-currency and they enticed the people to invest substantial amount(s), promising high returns, which resulted in a collective loss of Rs.18 crores to the complainant and his associates. On 26.09.2023 a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted, which was headed by DIG of Northern Range, Dharamshala, for investigating various crypto-currency related fraud cases across the State. It was unearthed that the modus operandi of the alleged fraud involved alluring in