JUDGMENT :

SUMEET GOEL, J.

1. Present petition has been filed under Section 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter to be referred as ‘the BNSS’) for grant of pre-arrest/anticipatory bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.34 dated 09.09.2025, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 420, 120-B, 467 and 468 of the IPC and Sections 13(1)(d)(ii), 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, at Police Station ACB, Gurugram, District Haryana.

2. The gravamen of the FIR pertains to vigilance enquiry conducted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Haryana, wherein it was found that several NCC certificates were illegally procured for ineligible candidates by preparing and verifying forged enrollment documents. The case of the prosecution, as outlined in the FIR, is that an enquiry bearing No.01 dated 22.11.2023 was received by Inspector Ved Prakash through Letter No.63/71/2023-1 CH1 dated 17.11.2023 and Letter No.19220/1-2/SVB dated 23.11.2023 issued by the Director General, Vigilance Bureau, Haryana. Based on this, an enquiry was conducted and a report was submitted to the Head Office of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Haryana. The matter was again referred to Inspector Ved Prakash vide Letter No.10597/1-2/ACB daed 06.06.2025. The enquiry revealed allegations of irregular issuance of NCC certificates at Ahir College, Rewari. It was found that several cadets were wrongly shown as students of Ahir College and were illegally granted NCC certificates. It was alleged that cadet Sunil (HAR/SD/2010/24092) was shown as appointed as Assistant Professor in the BCA Department from 01.09.2010 to 10.04.2012. Cadet Uttam Singh (HAR/SD/2010/24094) is the real brother-in-law of the then NCC Officer, Dhiraj Sangwan (petitioner herein). Cadet Jasbir Singh (HAR/SD/2010/24096) is a close relative of Dhiraj Sangwan (petitioner herein). Cadet Hemant (HAR/SD/2010/24109) was granted an NCC certificate by Dhiraj Sangwan (petitioner herein) despite not being a student of Ahir College. He was actually studying at a Polytechnic in Hisar. During the course of enquiry, it was found that cadets Sunil, Uttam, Ashish Sangwan and Hemant were wrongly issued NCC “B” Certificates and Jasbir was granted an NCC certificate on the basis of false enrollment details. Although their enrollment forms represented them as students of Ahir College, they were in fact not students of that college. The record relating to cadet Hemant was also found to be missing. It was further found that the then Associate NCC Officer (ANO), Dhiraj Sangwan (petitioner herein), was posted at Ahir College from 01.08.2008 to 31.08.2008. The co-accused Omkar Singh, served as Principal of Ahir College from 01.01.2013 to 31.03.2019. The said Omkar Singh was also an authorized signatory as a senior professor from 2010 to 2012 and had signed the enrollment forms of the concerned NCC cadets. After detailed enquiry, it was concluded that ANO Dhiraj Sangwan (petitioner herein), in collusion with co-accused Omkar Singh, misused their official positions. They prepared and verified false and forged enrollment documents for cadets who were not bona fide students of Ahir College and, in certain cases, over-aged, therefore, rendering them ineligible. On the basis of these forged documents, NCC certificates were illegally obtained for the said cadets. Based on these set of grave allegations, the present FIR was registered and investigation ensued.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has vehemently argued that the petitioner has no statutory role in enrolment, verification or issuance of NCC certificates and such powers vest exclusively with the Commanding Officer under the NCC Act and Rules. Learned counsel has further iterated that the petitioner was merely performing administrative coordination. Furthermore, the present FIR is a counter-blast to earlier criminal proceedings initiated against the complainant namely Gajender Singh. According to learned counsel, once a C