IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT st ON THE 21 OF JANUARY, 2026 MISC. CRIMINAL CASE No. 58256 of 2025 SHIVAM SADHWANI Versus UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS Appearance:

Shri Nitin Agrawal - Advocate for the applicant.

Shri Ganjendra Singh - Advocate for the respondents.

ORDER This is second bail application filed by the applicant under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for grant of regular bail relating to FIR/Crime No.1056/2025 - DGGI registered at the Police Station: Directorate General of GST Intelligence through Senior Intelligence Officer, Jabalpur for the offences punishable under Sections 132 (1) (a) - (d) of the CGST Act, 2017 read with Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017. The applicant is in detention since 14.10.2025. The first application of the applicant was dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty to revive his prayer immediately after filing of the charge-sheet.

2. As per prosecution story, the applicant is engaged in the work of filing of GST return as accountant, doing accounting work for various clients on regular basis. The applicant is having firms both at Narsinghpur as well as Jabalpur. The applicant does not carry any business activity by virtue of that he could supply any material or issue any invoice or claim any Input Tax Credit. It is stated that a summon was issued to the applicant on 10/10/2025 to mark his appearance on 11/10/2025 the applicant appeared before the authority and was arrested for prosecution under Section 132 of the CGST Act.

3. It has been argued by learned counsel for the applicant that the applicant has wrongly been implicated in the present case and he is behind bars since 14.10.2025. The investigation from the present applicant has been completed and charge-sheet has been filed. It has been submitted that the maximum punishment under the alleged offence is five years. There is no criminal antecedents against the petitioner and also considering the period of incarceration and considering the totality of facts and circumstances, petitioner be granted benefit of bail.

4. Learned Counsel in support of his contentions has referred the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in case of Ratnambar Kaushik Vs. Union of India (2022 SCC OnLine SC1678] decided on 05.12.2022 and drawn attention of this Court to para No.6, which is being extracted hereunder:

"In considering the application for bail, it is noted that the petitioner was arrested on 21.07.2022 and while in custody, the investigation has been completed and the charge sheet has been filed. Even if it is taken note that the alleged evasion of tax by the petitioner is to the extent as provided under Section 132(l) (1) (1), punishment provided is, Imprisonment which may extend to 5 years and fine. The petitioner has already undergone Incarceration for more than four months and completion of trial, in any event, would take some time. Needless to mention that the petitioner if released on bail, is required to adhere to the conditions to be imposed and diligently participate in the trial.

Further, in a case of the present nature, the evidence to be tendered by the respondent would essentially be documentary and electronic. The ocular evidence will be through official witnesses, due to which there can be no apprehension of tampering, intimidating or influencing. Therefore, keeping all these aspects in perspective, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, we find it proper to grant the prayer made by the petitioner."

5. Learned Counsel in support of his contentions has referred the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in case of Vineet Jain Vs. Union of India - Criminal Appeal No.2269/2025 decided on 28.04.2025, wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed as under:

"The offences alleged against the appellant are Clauses (c), (1) and (h) of Section 132(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The maximum sentence is of 5 years with fine. A charge-sheet has