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2021 Supreme(Online)(MAD) 34705
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS Reserved on Pronounced on
04.08.2021 31.08.2021 CORAM THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.DHANDAPANI CRL. O.P. NOS. 3730, 4227, 4095 & 11206 OF 2021 CRL. M.P. NOS. 6647, 6649, 2218, 2601, 2679, 3388, 6708 & 6709 OF 2021 W.P. NO. 1397 OF 2021 AND W.M.P. NO. 5917 OF 2021 Ravi Parthasarathy .. Petitioner in Crl. OP 3730/21 and Crl. OP 11206/21 Hari Sankaran .. Petitioner in Crl. OP 4095/21 Ramchand Karunakaran .. Petitioner in Crl. OP 4227/21 - Vs -
1. State rep. By Deputy Superintendent of Police Economic Offences Wing-II
1st Floor, Block – II, Garment Complex Corporate Office Building Thiru Vi. Ka. Industrial Estate Guindy, Chennai – 32. .. R-1 in all the petitions
2. Mr. John Dheepak rep. By its Authorised Signatory
63 Moons Technologies Ltd.
Shakti Tower-1, 7th Floor, E766 Anna Salai, Thousand Lights .. R-2 in Crl. OP 3370, 4095 Chennai 600 002. and 4227/2021 W.P. NO.1397 OF 2021
63 Moons Technologies Ltd.
Rep. By its Authorised Signatory Mr. John Dheepak Shakti Tower – 1, 7th Floor, E766 Anna Salai, Thousand Lights Chennai 600 002. .. Petitioner - Vs -
1. Government of Tamil Nadu rep. By its Secretary Home Department Fort St. George, Chennai 600 009.
2. Economic Offences Wing-II (Financial Institutions)
rep. By Addl. Director General of Police SIDCO, Alandur Road Thiru Vi. Ka Industrial Estate SIDCO Industrial Estate, Guindy Chennai 600 032. .. Respondents Crl. O.P. Nos.3730, 4095 and 4227 and of 2021 filed u/s 482 Cr.P.C.
praying this Court to call for the entire records connected with FIR in EOW, Chennai Crime No.13 of 2020 pending investigation on the file of the 1st respondent police and quash the same.
Crl. O.P. No.11206 of 2021 filed u/s 439 Cr.P.C. Praying this Court to enlarge the petitioner on bail pending investigation in FIR EoW Crime No.13 of
2020 on the file of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, OW, Chennai.
W.P. No.1397 of 2021 filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying this Court to issue a writ of mandamus directing the 1st respondent to attach the schedule mentioned properties of the entities/persons and the group companies and such other properties as the Government of Tamil Nadu - 1st respondent and the EOW - 2nd respondent and transfer the control over the said money or property to the competent authority.
For Petitioners : Mr. B.Kumar, SC, for Mr.Rahul Unnikrishnan in Crl. OP 3730/21 Mr.Manishankar, SC, for Mr. A.Ashwini Kumar, in Crl. OP 4227/21 Mr. M.K.Kabir, SC, for Mr. Sunder Mohan in Crl. OP 4095/21 Mr. Nithyesh Natraj in WP 1397/21 For Respondent : Mr. C.E.Pratap, GA (Crl. Side)
For Intervenors : Mr. P.S.Raman, SC, for Mr.Nithyesh Natraj Mr. Sarath Chander for Mr. B.Vijay Mr. Anand Sashidharan Mr. Nithyesh Natraj Mr.Abdukumar Rajarathnam
COMMON ORDER
Initially, Crl. O.P. No.11206/21 was listed before this Court on 6.7.2021 and during the hearing of the said petition for bail, it was fairly conceded by the learned senior counsel appearing for the respective petitioners as well as the intervenors that the bail petition is intrinsically connected with the quash petitions in Crl. O.P. Nos.3730, 4095 and 4227/21 and, therefore, the said petitions may be tagged together and listed for hearing so as to give a quietus to the issue. It was also informed on behalf of the intervenor that W.P. No.1397/2021 has been filed for a mandamus praying for certain directions and the said petition, too, being connected with the issue on hand, Registry was directed to place the matter before the Hon'ble Chief Justice as to the listing of the bail petitions, the quash petitions and the writ petition and upon orders of the Hon'ble Chief Justice, the petitions are listed before this Court for hearing.
2. Learned senior counsel appearing on either side fairly submitted that the quash petition may be taken up by this Court as the case that would fall out from the said quash petition, on a prima facie nature, would have a bearing in the disposal of the bail petition in Crl. O.P. No.11206/21. In view of the above fair stand taken by the learned senior counsel for the parties, the quash petitions are taken up along with the petition of the intervenors to implead themselves as party respondents to the respective petitions.
3. In order to give a fair hearing, there being no objection made by the learned counsel for the petitioners, the implead petitions filed by the intervenors are ordered.
4. Shorn of unnecessary details, the issue before this Court could be summarised briefly as hereunder :-
The parent company Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (for short 'IL & FS') has under its fold about 348 group companies. Due to liquidity crunch that engulfed the company, interference by the Central Government by filing appropriate petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (for short 'NCLT') led to the passing of various orders by NCLT on 1.10.18 and 9.10.18, which resulted in the nomination/appointment of Directors by the Central Government to manage the affairs of all the companies, including the company IL&FS Transportation networks India Limited (for short 'ITNL'). Further, to the said orders, on appeal, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (for short 'NCLAT') had passed certain orders, which includes grant of moratorium and further orders. The Central Government, in view of the enormity of the economic offence involved and also the fact that monies of various entities are at stake in the ill-fated IL & FS group companies, with a view to have a comprehensive investigation, ordered investigation under the Companies Act by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (for short 'SFIO') u/s 212 of the Companies Act and by virtue of the said orders, the investigation of the case stood assigned to SFIO.
5. In the meanwhile, due to the moratorium granted by NCLAT, the intervenors, being subsequent purchasers of the debentures from various other entities, having not received the interest as undertaken by the company while issuing the said debentures, lodged complaint by invoking the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Investment of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act (for short 'TNPID Act') against IL & FS and its group companies and more particularly against ITNL, which had issued the debentures and also against the petitioners, who were Directors in the said group for the default in payment of interest, which led to the registration of the above crime against ITNL, IL & FS and also various other Directors of the IL & FS, ITNL and other group companies. Aggrieved by the said registration of the case against the petitioners, who are no longer Directors of the said group companies, the present criminal original petitions have been filed on the ground that the invocation of t
