2026:CGHC:6844 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRC No. 552 of 2026 Dhiraj Kumar Thard S/o Girdhari Lal Thard Aged About 50 Years R/o 37, Bazalpara Lane, Bandhagat, Howrah, West Bengal.

... Applicant versus Central Bureau of Investigation Through P.S. EOB Kolkata West Bengal.

... Respondent For Applicant : Mr. Khishore Bhaduri, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Amitesh Yadav, Advocate and Mr. Harsh Dave, Advocate For Respondent/CBI : Mr. B. Gopa Kumar, Advocate along with Mr. Himanshu Pandey, Advocate Hon'ble Mr. Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

Order on Board

06.02.2026

1. This is the first bail application filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short ‘BNSS’) for grant of regular bail to the applicant who has been arrested in connection with Crime No. RC0732025E0002 registered at Police Station- EOB, Kolkata West Bengal, (C.G.) for the offence punishable under Sections 420, 409, 120-B of the Indian Penal RAHUL DEWANGAN Cede, 1860 and under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) Prevention of Digitally signed by RAHUL Corruption Act, 1998.

DEWANGAN

2. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that the present applicant is one of the Directors of M/s Ankur Urza Ltd., which had approached the complainant bank, United Bank of India (now merged with Punjab National Bank), for grant of financial assistance for establishment of a Ferro-Alloy Plant at Kolkata, West Bengal, for production of ferro- silico-manganese. For financing the said project, a consortium of two nationalized banks, namely United Bank of India and State Bank of India, was formed and a common loan agreement dated 14.05.2011 was executed, pursuant to which State Bank of India sanctioned a credit facility of Rs.24.64 crores and United Bank of India sanctioned an additional credit limit of Rs.28.90 crores in the nature of term loan and working capital loan, secured by mortgage of factory land and building situated at Mouza Mukundapur, P.S. Mejia, Village Ranipur, District Bankura (West Bengal), hypothecation of plant, machinery and other movable and immovable assets, mortgage of a residential flat at Ballygunge, Kolkata, personal guarantees of Directors, and corporate guarantees of group companies. The prosecution alleges that the applicant, in conspiracy with EPC contractor EICS Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. and other persons including public servants, fraudulently diverted the loan amount for purposes other than the sanctioned project and obtained disbursement of substantial loan amounts, resulting in alleged wrongful loss of about Rs.33.54 crores to the consortium banks. It is further alleged that the loan accounts of the borrower company became Non-Performing Assets in the year 2012 due to non-payment of instalments, whereafter recovery proceedings were initiated before the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Kolkata in the year 2014 and arbitration proceedings were also commenced. On the basis of the complaint, FIR bearing No. RC0732025E0002 has been registered at Police Station EOB, Kolkata, for offences punishable under Sections 420, 409 and 120- B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and therefore the present bail application has been filed before this Court.

3. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the present application has been filed on bona-fide grounds, as the allegations against the applicant are primarily of causing alleged wrongful loss to the bank in connivance with certain public servants, yet no public servant has been named or charge-sheeted, and the provisions of Section 409 IPC as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act are therefore inapplicable to the applicant, who is neither a public servant nor entrusted with bank property, further the simultaneous invocation of Sections 409 and 420 IPC is legally unsustainable, and the entire dispute arises out of a commercial transaction relating to grant and utilization of loan, for which civil, recovery, and arbitra