The court emphasized that economic offences require serious consideration in bail applications, balancing individual liberty against societal interests and the severity of the charges.

C A V ORDER

The applicant has filed the instant bail application before this Court in terms of the provisions of Section 483 Clause(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (' BNSS ' for short) for grant of bail in connection with Crime No. 04/2024 registered with Anti Corruption Bureau, District Raipur under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471,120-B IPC and 7 & 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act .

2. Facts of the case leading to the filing of the present applicant is that on 11.07.2023, the EOW received a communication from the Enforcement Directorate under Section 66 of the PMLA 2002 of ECIR/11/2022 and after conducting due verification, on being satisfied that prima facie a cognizable offence was committed, FIR No. 04/2024 came to be registered under Sections 7 & 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 420,467,468,471,120-B IPC against the applicant and 71 accused. The present applicant has been named in the supplementary charge sheet 03(B)/2024 dated 17.11.2024 along with three others.

3. The applicant was appointed as the Manager by Amit Singh and Siddarth Singhania of Alert Commando, which is the agency for supplying manpower to CG Excise and it was established in Celtax Colony Raipur. It is alleged that the applicant used to look after the work of Alert Commando and accompanied Siddarth Singhania to the monthly meetings between the placement agencies and CSMCL officials. It is also alleged that the work of monitoring the maintenance of the said money was done by the present applicant and was a trusted man of the syndicate and therefore was given additional responsibility of State level collection ie. the B-part sales amount and delivered it to co-accused Anwar Dhebar. It is further alleged that the work of sending duplicate holograms to Raipur from the Noida office of Prism Hologram to the distilleries by coordinating with the key people of the distilleries was also given to the present applicant. In the year 2022, the present applicant was made the in charge of Raipur district by Siddarth Singhania in Top Security Cash Collection Agency who used to collect the sales amount of B-part liquor and A-part liquor from the shops being sold in 15 districts and it was separated from the total amount, the A- part sale of liquor amount was deposited in the bank and the fixed commission money of the B-part liquor sales amount was given to Iqbal Khan by the present applicant.

4. It is the allegation against the applicant that after the duplicate holograms were packed, co-accused Dilip Pandey informed the present applicant who in turn contacted the distilleries and transported them and thus, the present applicant was a key associate of the excise syndicate fully involved in collecting the B-part amount, delivering it to the concerned person and assisting in distribution of duplicate holograms.

5. It is the case against the applicant that he got duplicate holograms printed and used it as genuine in liquor bottles and were sold to liquor suppliers for sale in the market without paying tax to the government and thus earned profit by unlawful gain for himself and loss to the State government. It is alleged that the applicant has been charged for the offences under Sections 420,467, 468,471, and 120-B IPC and the statements of number of witnesses under Section 161 Cr.P.C. has been recorded by the ACB. To analyze the extend of the alleged role of the applicant, the following parts of the charge sheet is required to be looked into. Firstly, the narration of the role of the applicant mentioned on the second charge wherein the description given is based upon interpretation and story drawn by prosecution on the basis of other material collected during investigation which includes the statements given in the memorandum and clarification memorandum under Section 27 of the Evidence Act.

6. Contention of Shri Shrivastava, learned counsel for the applicant is that the applicant is seeking bail in the FIR inter alia on the ground that th