Himachal Pradesh High Court
Rajdeep Singh vs Directorate Of Enforcement Office (Ed) on 22 November, 2024
Author: Virender Singh
Bench: Virender Singh
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( 2024:HHC:12248 )
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA.
Cr.M.P(M) No.2583 of 2024
Decided on: 22.11.2024
Rajdeep Singh .......Applicant
Versus
Directorate of Enforcement Office (ED) ...Respondent
Coram
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Virender Singh, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1
For the applicant: Mr. Manoj Pathak, Advocate.
For the respondent: Mr. Balram Sharma, Deputy
Solicitor General of India, along
with, Mr. Ajeet Singh Saklani,
Advocate and Mr. Sunil Kumar,
Enforcement Officer.
Virender Singh, Judge (oral)
By way of the present application, filed, under Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the 'BNSS), a prayer has been made to release applicant-Rajdeep Singh, on interim bail, in case No.ECIR/SHSZO/04/2019 dated 19.07.2019, registered with Directorate of Enforcement, Sub-Zonal Office, District Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, registered under Section 4 of the 1 Whether the reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes. 2
( 2024:HHC:12248 ) Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (hereinafter called as the 'PMLA').
2 According to the applicant, his father-in-law is suffering from Bilateral ankle problem and due to constant severe pain and swelling, he is not in a position to move. The doctors have advised him immediate surgery of ankle. 2.1 It is the case of the applicant that his wife is the only child of his father-in-law and she is also suffering with the spine problem and has been advised by the doctors to restrict her movement.
2.2 The applicant has sought the indulgence of this Court to permit him to attend/take care of his father-in-law, who is stated to be undergoing knee surgery, on 28.11.2024. 2.3 Earlier, the applicant had filed Cr.MP(M) Nos.1406 of 2024 and 1676 of 2024, for grant of interim bail, before this Court, which were allowed by the Court vide orders dated 31.05.2024 and 06.08.2024, respectively.
3. On the basis of above facts, a prayer has been made to allow the application.
4. When put to notice, the status report/reply, on behalf of ED, has been filed, mentioning therein that the 3 ( 2024:HHC:12248 ) applicant has been arrested, under Section 19 of the PMLA, as per the procedure, established, under law. 4.1 In the present case, the matter revolves around a scam, involving the allocation of scholarships to SC, ST and OBC students, under the Post Matric Scheme. In this fraudulent activity, officials from the Department of Higher Education, along with private Educational Institutions and Banks, were involved, which has resulted into misappropriation of scholarship funds of more than Rs.200 crore.
4.2 The applicant, according to the stand, taken by ED, along with others, has played a major role in the scam, wrongfully withholding the rightful scholarship entitlement of the scholarships of the students, belonging to SC, ST and OBC students of Himachal Pradesh. According to ED, they have diverted the said funds into their pockets/accounts. 22 institutions are stated to be involved. In this regard, ED has relied upon the charge-sheet submitted by CBI. The investigation is stated to be going on to unearth the illicit money and ascertain the proceeds of crime (PoC), obtained by way of this scam.
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( 2024:HHC:12248 ) 4.3 After recording the reason to believe in writing, the applicant and his co-accused were arrested by ED on 30 th August, 2023, under Section 19 of PMLA, in the said ECIR. Thereafter, they were produced before the Special Designated Court (PMLA), Shimla, on 31st August, 2023, and the learned Special Court, after perusal of all the documents, including the arrest memo, grounds of arrest, reasons to believe and material for formation of such belief, granted five days' ED custody, with a direction, to produce the accused persons before the Special Court on 4th September, 2023, on which date, they were produced before the Special Court and were remanded to judicial custody.
4.4 It is the further case of the ED that investigation is on-going and is at crucial stage, which requires gathering of additional evidence, examination of voluminous records and recording of statements of several persons associated with the applicant and other accused persons related to the case. 4.5 The prayer, so made by the applicant, has further been opposed, on the ground that the offences, under the PMLA, are different offences, as such, constitute class apart 5 ( 2024:HHC:12248 ) and need to be dealt with different approach, in the matter of bail.
4.6 According to the ED, the offence, under investigation, requires detailed investigation to unearth the material and in such circumstances, if bail is granted, it would defeat the case of the prosecution. The twin conditions, as per Section 45 of the PMLA, are also stated to be not satisfied, in this case.
4.7 Elaborating their stand, it is the case of the ED that CBI registered Fir No.RC0962019S0002, dated 7 th May, 2019, under Sections 409, 419, 465, 466 and 471 IPC, against the unknown persons. As per the allegations of the said case, there were complicity of individuals from State Government Education Department, Bank Officials and private institutions. Misappropriation in the disbursement of scholarship funds, in large scale, has also been alleged. The offences, under Sections 419 and 471 IPC, are also stated to be scheduled offences, mentioned in the schedule, appended to PMLA and as such, inquiry was initiated by ED and the present case, being ECIR/SHSZO/04/2019, dated 22nd July, 2019, was registered 6 ( 2024:HHC:12248 ) 4.8 As per the stand of ED, the applicant, along with co-accused Krishan Kumar and Arvind Rajta, through his wife-Babita Rajta, formed three shell entities, namely, M/s ASA Marketing Solutions (in the year 2015, its name was changed to ASAMS Education Group); (ii) M/s Skill Development Society; and (iii) M/s Skill Development School. 4.9 These shell companies opened office-cum-study centres at various locations, in Himachal Pradesh, namely, Nurpur, Nahan, Fatehpur, Una, Kangra, Rohru and Rampur and centres were opened by the name and style of (i) ASAMS Education Group; (ii) SDS Education Group; (iii) Skill Development Society; and (iv) NIELIT Center. Through these study centres, the candidates, belonging to SC/ST/OBC categories, were allured of free education in post matric diploma and degree courses, through open and distance learning mode. They had collected the documents of the desirous candidates and their signatures were got appended on the application form, bank forms and bank authorization letters. Thereafter, on the basis of documents collected ans signed by the students, bank accounts in the name of students were opened with the same Bank at Panchkula, 7 ( 2024:HHC:12248 ) Chandigarh and Solan, with which, bank accounts in the name of shell entities were already opened and also, the minimum amount required for opening such bank accounts of students was transferred from the bank account of shell entities.
4.10 Thereafter, as per the stand of the ED, the documents of the students were uploaded on HP-ePass software at Mohali office and while uploading the data on HP- ePass, details of bank accounts opened in the name of students at Panchkula, Chandigarh and Solan were mentioned. Also, one out of six to seven mobile numbers are stated to have been mentioned against the names of the students on HP-ePass.
4.11 It is the further case of the ED that the applicant prepared fee structure of his own, for the students, eligible under PMS Scheme, wherein, the fees of distance learning courses were much higher than the fees prescribed by the individual University, i.e. Lovely Professional University and Karnataka State Open University. Such fee structure was unrecognized and not approved by any statutory authority. According to the ED, even, such fees were not charged from 8 ( 2024:HHC:12248 ) the students, but, was claimed from Department of Higher Education, Shimla. The claims, under the PMS Scheme, for SC/ST/OBC students were made before the Directorate of Higher Education, Shimla on the basis of false and forged affiliation letters of Lovely Professional University and Karnataka State Open University, by showing the students enrolled in distance learning programmes of these universities.
4.12 As per the further stand of the ED, false and bogus claims of students were made under Post Matric Scheme for the students who were not enrolled and registered with any university and were studying in courses of University, other than Lovely Professional University and Karnataka State Open University. In order to fraudulently grab more and more amount of scholarship, claims are made by changing the course category and center of the students in subsequent years.
4.13 It is the further case of the ED that in the academic year 2015-16, the applicant claimed scholarship under Post Matric Scholarship scheme of students by falsely showing them enrolled in distance learning courses of 9 ( 2024:HHC:12248 ) Karnataka State Open University, which was derecognized by University Grants Commission, in the year 2015. Applicant- Rajdeep Singh is stated to have applied and received refund of fees of more than 700 such students from collaborator of Karnataka State Open University.
4.14 It is their further case that in the year 2016-17, the name of the study centers was changed to NIELIT so as to resemble the same with the name of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology, which is an autonomous society under the administrative control of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. Further claims are stated to have been made through the centers, by the name of NIELIT, for students, who were not enrolled in any courses offered by NIELIT, Delhi and scholarship in their name was received. 4.15 It is the further allegation of the ED that the applicant, with co-accused, namely Arvind Rajta through his wife Babita Rajta, obtained proceeds of crime worth Rs.28,09,00,055/-, as a result of criminal activity of cheating and making false claims of students on the basis of forged affiliation and fee structure letters and also by receiving 10 ( 2024:HHC:12248 ) scholarship of students not registered with NIELIT, New Delhi, under Post Matric Scholarship Scheme. 4.16 The bail applications have also been opposed, on the ground, that the twin conditions, as per Section 45 of the PMLA, have not been fulfilled, in this case. 4.17 Apart from this, it has been apprehended that the applicant may influence the witnesses, who, are his ex-employees and also hamper the investigation to trace remaining leads of crime.
5. On the basis of above facts, a prayer has been made to dismiss the application.
6. Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, according to which, applicant's father-in-law is undergoing ankle surgery on 28.11.2024 and the said surgery would take sufficient time to recover, this Court is of the view that the prayer for interim bail can be allowed.
7. It has also been submitted by learned counsel for the applicant that the applicant is ready to abide by, any condition, which would be imposed by this Court, in case, interim bail is allowed in favour of the applicant. 11
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8. Considering the above facts, this Court is of the view that the interim bail application is liable to be allowed, so that the applicant could take care of his father-in-law. As such, his application is allowed.
9. Consequently, the applicant is ordered to be released, on interim bail, w.e.f. 25.11.2024 to 15.12.2024, in the case, as mentioned above, on his furnishing personal bail bond, in the sum of Rs.50,000/-, with two sureties, each, in the like amount, to the satisfaction of learned trial Court. This order, however, shall be subject to the following conditions:
a) The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence nor hamper the investigation of the case in any manner whatsoever;
b) The applicant shall not make any inducement, threat or promises to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the Court or the Police Officer; and
c) The applicant shall not leave the territory of India without the prior permission of the Court.
d) The applicant shall not visit any other place, except the place, where his father-in-law will be admitted for surgery.
e) The applicant shall appear before the learned trial Court on each and every date of hearing and in case of inability, he shall move the application to the learned trial Court seeking exemption.12
( 2024:HHC:12248 )
10. The applicant is directed to surrender, before the jail authorities, on 16.12.2024, positively by 10.00 am.
11. Any of the observations, made hereinabove, shall not be taken as an expression of opinion, on the merits of the case, as, these observations, are confined, only, to the disposal of the present bail application.
12. It is made clear that respondent-ED would be at liberty to move appropriate application, in case, any of the bail conditions, is found to be violated, by the applicant.
13. Registry is directed to forward a soft copy of the bail order to the Superintendent of District Kaithu Jail, Shimla, through e-mail, with a direction to enter the date of grant of interim bail in the e-prison software.
November 22, 2024 ( Virender Singh )
(ps) Judge
Digitally signed by KARAN SINGH KANWAR