Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant :Ms. Sukhveer Kaur, Advocate
For the Respondent: Mr. Digvijay Nagpal, AAG, Punjab.

JUDGMENT :

Kuldeep Tiwari. J.(Oral)

1. Through the instant petition, the petitioner craves for indulgence of this Court for his being enlarged on regular bail, in case FIR No.187 dated 28.10.2020, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 of IPC, and under Section 65 of Excise Act, registered at Police Station Shahpurkandi, District Pathankot.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE PETITIONER

2. The allegations against the petitioner are that he has prepared forged and fabricated permit for obtaining ENA (Extra Neutral Alcohol), by using fake seals of Excise Commissioner, Guwahati.

The prosecution agency was set into motion on a complaint made by one Sukhdeep Kaur Bajwa, Excise Officer, Pioneer Industries Limited, Ranipur, Police Station Shahpurkandi, against the Directors and other persons involved in the company. The relevant extract of the same reads as under:-

"In nutshell the case of the prosecution is that the present FIR has been registered on the complaint moved by Sukhdeep Kaur Bajwa, Excise Officer, Pioneer Industries Limited, Ranipur, PS Shahpurkandi against Directors and other persons involved in the company M/s Pioneer Industries Pvt. Ltd. Plot No.A-3, A-4, Industrial Growth Center, Defence Road, VPO Ranipur, Pathankot. Memorandum M/s Pioneer Industries Pvt. Ltd is D-2 license holder situated in District Pathankot. The licence holder is engaged in production of extra neutral Alochol/Rectified Spirit/Denatured Spirit/Indian Made Foreign Liquor/Punjab Medium Liquor hereinafter referred to as ENA/RS/DS/IMFL/PML. The ENA produced by the unit is either consumed for production of IMFL/PML or is also sold to other license both within the outside Punjab. The unit receive permit for the transfer of ENA to liccensees situated outside Punjab. This is the permission from the importing state to transfer of ENA from Punjab to that particular State. Against such permit, a pass generated by the Excise authorities of the unit under the Punjab Liquor Permit and Pass Rule, 1932. The said pass contains to the entire record of the transaction and authorized the transport of intoxicant. As per the Punjab Liquor Permit and Pass Rules 1932, the unit has to provide the Excise Verification Certificates, certifying that the intoxicant has reached the destination as per the document. These EVC's are certified by the Excise officials of the receiving State. A sudden increase in the issue of import permit by the Assam Excise Department drew the attention of the excise officials of the unit. For the verification of the genuineness of the excise permits, an email was sent to the Additional Excise Commissioner, Assam on 22.10.2020, a letter was received from Sh. Sanjeev Kr. Medhi, Commissioner of Excise, Assam in which it is stated that permits for allotment of ENA were not issued from this office. The licence of applicant-accused Rajib Konwar was issued for a period of 12.06.2013 to 11.06.2016 which was invalid. The name of the license as Mr. Rajib Konwar, resident of Duliajan Gaon, Anandanagar, PO @ PS Duliajan, District Dibrugarh, Assam and number of permit 31. After receiving the letter from the Government of Assam, it is clear that M/s Pioneer Industries Limited has tendered false documents to the Excise Authorities. Permits are official documents and tendering the false documents have committed fraud with the State Government. After giving the documents to Excise Officials by Sh. Manohar Shrama, M/s Pioneer Industries Limited have committed offence in various sections and Punjab Excise Act, 1914."

SUBMISSIONS OF LEARNED COUNSEL FOR THE PETITIONER

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner, in his asking for the hereinabove relief, has made the following submissions:-

(i) Petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case;

(ii) The allegations whether the permits are forged and fabricated are yet to be established;

(iii) The petitioner is behind the bars for the last more than 04 months, and the trial is yet to commence;

(iv) The conclusion of trial will take long tim