Power of Arrest u/s 69 of CrPC read with Section 132 of the CGST Act, can be invoked before completion of adjudication of process

Last updated: 10 February 2021

Court :
Punjab And Haryana High Court

Brief :
The matter is taken up for hearing through video conference due to COVID-19 situation.

Citation :
Appeal Number : CRM-M-1511-2021

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH

CRM-M-1511-2021
Reserved on: 25th January, 2021
Pronounced on: 28th January, 2021

Rakesh Arora ....Petitioner

Versus

State of Punjab ....Respondent

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AVNEESH JHINGAN

Present:
Mr. Ashok Aggarwal, Senior Advocate with
Mr. Priyadarshi Manish, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala, Senior Deputy Advocate
General, Punjab.

Mr. Sourabh Goel, Senior Panel Counsel for Union of India.

Avneesh Jhingan, J.

[1] The matter is taken up for hearing through video conference due to COVID-19 situation.

[2] The petitioner is before this Court under Section 439 ofCr.P.C. for grant of bail, having been arrested under Section 132 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 [for brevity ‘the Act’].

[3] In the petition, only State of Punjab was arrayed as therespondent, however on 18th January, 2021, Mr. Sourabh Goel, Advocate appeared and submitted that Union of India is a necessaryparty. He sought time to file a reply, same was filed and taken on record on 22nd January, 2021.

[4] The facts emanating are that Business Intelligence and Fraud Analytics [‘BIFA’] was used for taking data from GSTIN. TheGoods and Services Tax Department had information that three firms by the name of M/s La Mode Fashions, M/s Decent Fashions and M/s Murari Enterprises [hereinafter referred to as ‘firms’] were engaged in availing and passing bogus Input Tax Credits [‘ITC’]. The firms had issued bills worth ` 158 crores involving ` 13.39 crores of tax. Firms had availed fake ITC of ` 21.60 crores and claimed refund of ` 5.02 crores.

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