Anticipatory bail in cases of grave economic offences involving deep-rooted conspiracies and large-scale public fund loss should be exercised sparingly; custodial interrogation is essential when investigation is in progress to unearth money trails, and such relief should be denied if it hampers fair investigation or poses a flight risk.

Sushil Kukreja, Judge

The instant bail application has been filed by the petitioner under Section 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (for short BNSS) for releasing him on bail in case FIR No. 120 of 2023, dated 24.09.2023, under Sections 420 and 120B of Indian Penal Code (for short IPC), read with Section 59 of the HP Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, 199 and Sections 21 and 23 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019, registered at Police Station Palampur, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.

2. The facts of the case, which emerge from the record, are encapsulated as under:

2(a). On 24.09.2023 on the basis of the complaint made by Shri Arun Singh Guleria (complainant) a case was registered at Palampur Police Station, District Kangra, H.P. As per the complainant, on the advice of Subhash Sharma, resident of Mandi, H.P., they had invested in a website, i.e., www.voscrow.10, which was owned by the above said Subhash Sharma alongwith one Milan Garg, resident of Meerut, U.P. In lieu of their investments, virtual currency was provided through the website. The complainant further alleged that above said Subhash Sharma alongwith promoters Sukh Dev Thakur and Abhishek Sharma, who are residents of Mandi and Una, respectively, allegedly cheated the general public through websites like Voscrow and Hypenext.

2(b). The complainant further alleged that during the period between 2019 to 2020, the above persons, promised the individuals to double their money and such promises continued till 2021 and during this period, some individuals received distributions of funds against their investments and this led to increase in investments. Resultantly, many people invested and on 25th December allocations were halted by Subhash Sharma and later he assured that allocations would resume soon. Subsequently, Subhash Sharma tied up with Hypenext, which was owned by Milan Garg of Meerut. On being persuaded, the people invested and reinvested in Hypenext again and people also received partial funds against their investments and such practice continued till 2022. Thereafter, the company declared inability to provide returns due to technical problems requesting five months’ time for payment and qua this both Subhash Sharma and Milan Garg informed the entire community through a video. In total, the amount involved was rupees eighteen crores and they acknowledged and promised to activate new IDs on 8th August, 2023 at Aglobal.io, however, as per the complainant neither his community nor he received any money. The complainant alleged that Subhash Sharma, Hemraj, Milan Garg, Sukhdev Thakur and Abhishek Sharma defrauded the people by creating fake website and it was a well-planned conspiracy.

2(c). As per the FIR, the above said persons were involved in fraudulent activities related to crypto currency and they enticed the people to invest substantial amount(s), promising high returns, which resulted in a collective loss of eighteen crore rupees to the complainant and his associates. On 26.09.2023 a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted, which was headed by DIG of Northern Range, Dharamshala, for investigating various crypto currency related fraud cases across the State.

2(d). It was unearthed that the modus operandi of the alleged fraud involved alluring individuals with promise of high returns on crypto currency investments, creating a network of investors, who recruited others, manipulating crypto currency prices and ultimately cau