JUDGMENT :

1. Heard Sri Purnendu Chakravarty Advocate, the learned Counsel for the applicant and Sri Rohit Tripathi, the learned counsel for the respondent-Directorate of Enforcement (hereinafter referred to as ‘the E.D.’).

2. The present bail application has been filed by the applicant with the prayer to enlarge him on bail in Session Case No. 1485/2022 in the Court of Session Judge/Special Court PMLA, Lucknow, arising out of ECIR/LKZO/05/2019, under Section 3/4 Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, Police Station Directorate of Enforcement, District Lucknow.

3. The E.D. registered ECIR/LKZO/05/2019 on 29.06.2019 when Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar had forwarded copies of 25 F.I.Rs. registered under various Sections, including Sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471, 506 IPC against M/s Garvit Innovative Promoters Ltd. (GIPL) and its promoter Sri Sanjay Bhati and other unknown persons/entities between 12.02.2019 and 25.04.2019, on the allegations that the aforesaid Company had lured the public to invest in its schemes with the promise of good returns, but the Company did not fulfill its promise and did not return even the invested amounts.

4. The applicant is not named as an accused in any of the aforesaid FIRs or in the ECIR.

5. The E.D. recorded the statements of the applicant under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the PMLA’), on 22.10.2019, 23.10.2019 and 20.10.2020.

6. The ED filed a complaint on 17.02.2021 against one Manoj Tyagi.

7. The applicant’s name was included as an accused person for the first time in the supplementary complaint filed by the E.D. on 13.01.2022 stating that statements of some of the complainants in the F.I.Rs. were recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA and gist of their statements is that they had invested in the Bikebot scheme of GIPL and did not receive the returns promised by the company.

8. The applicant was arrested on 21.07.2022. House No. B-2/138, Vijay Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow worth Rs.6,50,00,000/-belonging to the applicant has been seized by the E.D.

9. Statement of the main accused Sanjay Bhati, a promoter and director of GIPL, was recorded on 04.11.2019, 22.11.2019 and 23.11.2019. He stated that since incorporation of GIPL, there was negligible business and almost nil income till 2016. Only a few plots of land were bought by the company. In Nov-Dec-2016, they started working on an app named BIKEBOT. In 2017, they bought bikes and introduced them as bike taxis. He stated that the applicant Badri Narayan Tiwari was one of the key decision makers for property purchase and development, alongwith Montu Bhasin, Anil Saha and Vijender Hudda.

10. Sanjay Bhati further stated that all transactions with accounts Section were looked after by the team of Noble Cooperative Bank comprising of V. K. Sharma, his son Govind and other bank officials. All works related to running of vehicles, franchisees and registration/delivery of bikes were looked after by Vijaypal Kasana. The initial capital for purchasing bikes was invested by him and later other people were invited to invest in the bikes. However, due to difficulties in registration of bikes, they started accepting money from people in the account of the company and gave sale letters to them after purchasing the bikes. The investment plans of Bikebot were conceptualized by Sanjay Bhati, Rajesh Bhardwaj, Karanpal Singh, Atul Thakur and Virendra Malik between Jan 2017 to June 2017. Money from Bikebot investors was taken through bank accounts only. In the event of system failures or after Noble Bank stepped in August, cash was also accepted. However, payouts were made through bank accounts only. Cash counter in the company was handled by Noble Bank staff only. Cash collected at GIPL was transferred to Noble Bank and Grand Venice Mall from where it was invested in projects of Noble Buildtech, Grand Venice and Saha. He further submitted that cash was given to the applicant on two occasions.