Bail in economic offenses requires balancing public interest against individual rights; pre-trial detention must be justified beyond seriousness of charges.

ORDER

Vide R.C. No.0962019S0002, a case has been registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (for short CBI) under Sections 409 , 419, 465, 466, 471 of the Indian Penal Code (in short IPC) and Sections 13 (1) (c) and 13 (1) (d) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at Police Station CBI, ACB Branch, Shimla. Petitioner was arrested in this case on 14.05.2022. A bail petition preferred by her under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was dismissed by learned Special Judge (CBI), Shimla on 19.05.2022. Through instant petition, she seeks her release on regular bail.

2. Gist of Allegations.

The aforementioned case is in respect of alleged misappropriation of government scholarship funds on large scale with complicity of officials working in the Education department, Central Government, Banks and private institutions.

2(i). An FIR No.133 of 2018 was registered on 16.11.2018 at Police Station East, Shimla. FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint made by the State Project Officer, State Project Monitoring and New Initiative Unit, Department of Higher Education, Himachal Pradesh, Shimla. It was alleged in the FIR that various complaints were received in the Education Department regarding non-receipt of scholarships by the students under the State and Centrally Sponsored Schemes for SC/ST/OBC/MC students. Preliminary inquiry conducted by the State Project Officer revealed mis-appropriation of scholarship funds on large scale with complicity of officials working in the Education Department, Central Government, Banks and Private Institutions. It was further alleged in the FIR that income/caste certificates of students were not verified and did not appear to be genuine. Through single application, disbursement of scholarships under two different categories of SC & ST also came to light. Many loopholes were detected in ‘hp-e-pass’ software used by the State Education Department, whereby the same mobile and bank account numbers were accepted for more than one application. Applications for scholarships were accepted without regard to any Aadhar number. Instructions issued by the Central Government for disbursing the scholarships through smart cards were not adhered to by the officials of the Education Department. Verification of scholarship applications was not carried out by the concerned Education Department officials. It was further alleged that the private educational institutions had opened bank accounts of the students near their institutes. Some of the bank accounts in Chandigarh and Haryana were alleged to be dubious. 80% of total scholarship money disbursed was granted through private educational institutions.

2(ii). Pursuant to notification dated 20.03.2019, the FIR dated 16.11.2018 was entrusted to CBI and case RC0962019S0002 was registered on 07.05.2019 at CBI, ACB, Shimla under Sections 409 , 419, 465, 466 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code against unknown persons. After entrustment of FIR, CBI carried out investigations. Noticing the complicity of public servants of Directorate of Higher Education, Bank Officials and Officials of the private educational institutions, Sections 13 (2) read with 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 , were added in the case. CBI conducted searches of 22 private institutions, which had disbursed the scholarships, w.e.f. 13.05.2019 to 16.05.2019 at 22 locations in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Union Territory of Chandigarh. 26 institutions were taken up for investigation by the CBI on the basis of their scholarship claims.

2(iii) Charge sheets for misappropriation of scholarship funds for different amount in respect of seven institutes stand filed by the C.B.I. Present petition pertains to