Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Mr. Keshavam Chaudhri, Advocate, Mr. Sunil Sihag, Advocate and Mr. Rishab Tewari, Advocate
For the Respondent: Mr. Ashok Kumar Sehrawat, DAG, Haryana

JUDGMENT :

Pankaj Jain, J. (Oral) -

The afore-captioned petitions have been filed by the petitioners under Section 439 Cr.P.C. seeking grant of regular bail pending trial in the following FIRs :

FIR No.	Offences punishable under Sections	Registered at
527 dated 27.07.2016	406, 409, 419, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of IPC.	Police Station Sirsa City, District Sirsa
647 dated 24.10.2020	406, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 409 and 120-B of IPC.	Police Station Sirsa City, District Sirsa
348 dated 24.10.2020	406, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 409 & 120-B of IPC and Section 132 of Central Good and Services Tax Act (CGST)	Police Station Civil Lines Sirsa, District Sirsa
528 dated 27.07.2016	406, 409, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of IPC.	Police Station Sirsa City, District Sirsa
644 dated 24.10.2020	406, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 409 & 120-B of IPC.	Police Station Sirsa City, District Sirsa
650 dated 24.10.2020	406, 409, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 & 120-B of IPC.	Police Station Sirsa City, District Sirsa
642 dated 24.10.2020	406, 409, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC.	Police Station Sirsa City, District Sirsa

2. All the matters involve similar allegations, thus the same are being disposed off by common order.

3. Counsel for the petitioner submits that the prime accused Amit Bansal stands admitted to bail vide order dated 08.02.2024, observing as under:-

"xx xx xx

3. Counsel for the petitioner(s) submits that the matters relate to evasion of tax under Haryana VAT Act and in light of Section 37 read with Section 38, petitioners ought not have been booked for offences punishable under IPC.

4. The legislature in its own wisdom has excluded the jurisdiction of police authorities and provisions of Indian Penal Code. It is evident from the fact that the officer though has been provided with power under 1973 Code, but there is no power of custodial interrogation. The legislature has provided specific penal provisions in VAT Act, which is a complete code in itself. Officers have been clothed only with the power as provided under Code of 1973. Thus, jurisdiction of police stands excluded. Reliance is being placed upon Union of India vs. Ashok Kumar Sharma & Ors. 2020 AIR (Supreme Court) 5274.

5. The parameters to be considered while deciding the prayer for bail are well laid down by Apex Court in the case of 'State through CBI vs. Amaramani Tripathi, reported as 2005(8) SCC 21', holding that:

6. Coordinate Bench in Maninder Sharma's case (supra) laid down the following tripode test while dealing with economic offences:-

7. There is no denial to the fact that the economic offences constitute a separate class of their own, but trite it is that presumption of innocence is one of the bedrocks on which the criminal jurisprudence rests. Time and again, Apex Court has reiterated the need to integrate the right of investigating agencies to have effective interrogation of the accused with the right of liberty of the accused. While dealing extensively with the rights of the accused in the economic offences, Apex Court in the case of Satender Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and another, reported as 2022 AIR (Supreme Court) 3386 held as under :

23. Thus, from cumulative perusal of the judgments cited on either side including the one rendered by the Constitution Bench of this Court, it could be deduced that the basic jurisprudence relating to bail remains the same inasmuch as the grant of bail is the rule and refusal is the exception so as to ensure that the accused has the opportunity of securing fair trial. However, while considering the same the gravity of the offence is an aspect which is required to be kept in view by the Court. The gravity for the said purpose will have to be gathered from the facts and circumstances arising in each case. Keeping in view the consequences that would befall on the society in cases of financial irregularities, it has been held that even economic offences would fall under the category of "grave offence" and in such