Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Mr. R.K. Bajaj, Advocate
For the Respondent: Mr. Mohit Kapoor, Sr. DAG, Punjab

JUDGMENT :

Pankaj Jain, J. (Oral) 

Present petition has been filed under Section 439 Cr.P.C. for grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing complaint No.CHA-170/2023 dated 27.03.2023, registered for the offence punishable under Section 132(1)(a)(b)(c) and (i) read with Section 69(1) of Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

2. The petitioner has been arrested in a complaint related to alleged scam wherein he has been accused of preparing fake rent note and consequential fake bills. It is being claimed that the petitioner floated one firm on his name and credentials and caused loss to the Government exchequer to the tune of Rs.5.40 crores.

3. The precise allegation as revealed from reply filed on behalf of respondent No.1 read as under:-

"xx xx xx

5. That the petitioner got the firm titled as M/s Guru Har Rai Trading Co. registered on his name and credentials by fraudulent practice by preparing the fake rent deed having the forged signatures of the landlord Sh. Gurnam Singh who is an NRI and has been residing in the United Kingdom since 10.12.2019 and who has vehemently denied having his signature on the rent deed executed and uploaded on the department common GST Portal the applicant. Further the signature of Sh. Gurnam Singh is different on the rent deeds of the other firms of the co accused M/s North Vogue and M/s Dashmesh Trading Co.

6. That the petitioner having connivance with the other co accused has designed a mechanism by floating fake firms, creating/availing and passing on the bogus ITC to one another in the circular form (Circular Trading) and thereafter to the end users who rather than paying the tax on their own adjusted their tax liability with this fake ITC. The applicant declared the fake movements of the taxable goods through the vehicles which are scooters, motorcycles, cars, other ones not liable to take such load, and most of the others have no record of being any type of vehicles. Further the owners of the other declared vehicles, which are otherwise trucks, have vehemently denied, in written that they did not let their vehicles to the firm for transporting the taxable goods and they even do not know the applicant and particularly declared by the firm whose proprietor is the applicant.

7. That the petitioner has floated the said firm on his name and credentials, by preparing, signing and uploading his credentials like PAN card, Aadhar card and signatures, and photos, moreover he has signed most of the cheques for withdrawing the cash from the requisite bank account(s) from time to time and this way he has defrauded the state exchequer to the tune of more than Rs 5 Crores.

8. That the petitioner had no place of business, no godown, no office, no stock, no office related equipment. The physical verification was done with proper procedure by preparing the requisite Panchnama containing the statements of the nearby residents/shop keepers.

9. That the petitioner has made 99% of his inward supplies to the tune of Rs 24.13 Cr. with ITC to the tune of Rs3.73 Cr from the firms of the co accused i.e. M/s Dashmesh Trading Co. and the remaining 0.28% from M/s Shiv Shakti Enterprises and has made the outward supplies to 70 firms including M/s P.K. Trading Co., M/s Gagan Trading Co., Krish Trading Co and the applicant has paid no tax in cash and he has adjusted all his liability with the fake ITC from M/s Dashmesh Trading Co. The proprietors/controllers of all these firms are the co accused in this case and under scrutiny of the Hon'ble court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jalandhar."

4. As per the prosecution, the petitioner was thrice summoned by the investigating officer. However, he failed to unleash his version and deliberately avoided the proceedings.

5. Counsel for the petitioner has argued that the petitioner is behind bars for more than 01 year, 02 months and 09 days. The maximum punishment prescribed under law for the offence for which he being tried is 05 years. It is triable by Magistrate. Investigatio