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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Date of decision: 18.02.2025

+ BAIL APPLN. 4375/2024

RUDRA KUMAR VERMA .....Applicant

Through: Mr. Bhaskar Aditya, Advocate

versus

STATE OF NCT OF DELHI .....Respondent

Through: Ms. Rupali Bandhopadhya, ASC (Crl.) for the State with Mr. Abhijeet Kumar and Mr. Anurag Arora, Advocates

%

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA

O R D E R

MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J (ORAL):

1. Present petition has been filed under Section 483 of Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) seeking regular bail in FIR No. 161/2024 dated 19.03.2024 under Sections 408/420/468/471 IPC registered at PS Badarpur, Delhi.

2. The Applicant herein is in custody since 06.09.2024. The charge-sheet dated 24.10.2024 has been filed before the Trial Court. The prosecution states the supplementary charge-sheet will be filed before the Trial Court possibly on 19.03.2025.

3. As per the prosecution’s case detailed in the status report dated 11.12.2024, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Gupta, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of V5 Global Services Private Limited, lodged a complaint at Police Station Badarpur, Delhi, against the Applicant, alleging commission of offenses including criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and misappropriation of funds, fabrication and submission of forged documents as well as unauthorized removal of valuable company data stored on Laptops and servers, resulting in monetary losses to the company of Rs. 70,32,389/-. It is stated that the Applicant, who was employed as the Manager of Compliance, was entrusted with responsibilities concerning human resources and labor law compliance, specifically statutory obligations such as remittance of the Labor Welfare Fund (LWF) and Professional Tax (PT) for the company, i.e., V5 Global Services Private Limited. It is stated that despite receiving the funds from the company into his personal bank account for making statutory payments, the Applicant failed to deposit the same with the competent authorities and instead generated forged receipts and falsified reports submitted to the company. In these facts, the subject FIR was registered.

4. It is stated that during the course of the investigation, the Applicant’s bank account statements were obtained and scrutinized, which corroborated the allegations made in the complaint. The financial records reportedly indicate that the funds, which were meant for onward statutory tax payments, were diverted into other accounts for personal use.

5. It is stated that a notice under Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) was issued to the Applicant on 08.04.2024. The Applicant joined the investigation on 19.04.2024, during which he admitted that the funds deposited in his account by the company were utilized by him for personal expenses, including house construction, medical treatment of his sister, repayment of existing loans, and tax payments for his private business. It is stated that on 04.05.2024, the Applicant submitted an original sale deed of an immovable property and jewelry purchase bills, which were seized through a seizure memo. However, subsequent investigation revealed that the property in question was on loan from Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd., and the whereabouts of the jewelry remained unverified.

6. It is stated that the Applicant subsequently absconded, evading multiple attempts of service of notice under Section 41 CrPC. Consequently, the Trial Court issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against the Applicant on 01.06.2024. Thereafter, the Applicant filed an application before the Trial Court seeking the cancellation of NBWs and the dropping of proceedings under Section 82 CrPC, which was dismissed vide order dated 06.09.2024.

7. It is stated that subsequently, Sub-Inspector (SI’) Onkar moved an application before the Trial Court seeking permission to interrogate and arrest the Applicant. Upon obtaining the requisite permission, the Applicant was inte