On December 23, 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, while dismissing a petition filed for the concession of regular bail in an economic offence, observed that in an economic offence, while granting bail, the viewpoint must be taken differently with a different approach.
Moreover, such offences with deep-rooted conspiracies, involving huge loss of public funds must be taken seriously while considering their effect on the economy of the country as a whole.
Brief Facts:
The present petition was filed by the Petitioner under Section 439 Cr.P.C. seeking a regular bail in the case FIR No.0267 dated 17.05.2022 under Sections 406, 420, 506, 120-B IPC (Sections 201, 467, 468, and 471 IPC added later) and Sections 3, 4, 5, 6 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. The above said FIR was registered after the complaint was made by the Complainant, who stated that the accused persons, induced him by calling on his telegram fraudulently and saying that they had an App named 'WinMoney' which was an Android link chain App and the same was approved by the Government of India. It dealt with the chit fund scheme and numerous persons had invested their money in the scheme.
The Complainant fell into the trap and he made four IDs. He deposited a sum of Rs.12 to Rs.15 lacs in the said IDs from different bank accounts. For some time, the Complainant was paid a commission but later, when the Complainant checked the App, he came to know that the payment was stopped and his IDs and accounts were blocked. Later, the Complainant received a telephone call on telegram saying that if he would deposit Rs.80,000/- in their account, his payment in WinMoney App would be paid to him.
However, the Complainant told him that he had already deposited his entire available amount in the App. Later, the Complainant got to know that the App was made to defraud people. Hence, a complaint was filed by him, after which the Petitioner was arrested during the investigation and was in custody since 16.06.2022.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
It was submitted that the Petitioner was falsely implicated in the case whereas he was not involved in the alleged commission of the offence. The Petitioner was neither named in the FIR nor in any role attributed to him. He was implicated during the investigation. The counsel added that the Petitioner in his disclosure statement disclosed that he uses Binance App. for transferring the money collected from one account to another. He further added that the Accused Sayyed Ali was a prime accused in the case and an amount of Rs.10 lacs was deposited in the account of the Petitioner by the said person. The Petitioner converted the same in USDT coins and deposited the same in the account of said Sayyed Ali. Hence, he should be granted regular bail.
Contentions of the Respondent:
It was submitted that a huge amount was involved in the case and the Petitioner converted an amount of approximately Rs.156 crore 22 lakh 55 thousand 109 rupees into USDT coins through various accounts managed through the Binance Trading Application which was operated with the help of his Apple I-phone and SIM card No.8302282949 and got a commission. He further submitted that a transaction worth Rs.156 crores 22 lakhs 55 thousand 109 rupees were without paying any taxes, GST, causing huge tax evasion to be paid to the Government and in lieu of such illegal transfers, the Petitioner received a sum of Rs.3 lacs on account of ‘hawala’ and even huge amount of commission was received by the Petitioner from 04.04.2022 to 12.04.2022.
Observations of the Court:
The Hon’ble Court observed that the other Accused namely, Kuldeep Patel, approached the Court by way of CRM-M-43681 of 2022 seeking regular bail. The allegation against him was that coaccused Uday Mehta, in his disclosure statement stated that a sum of Rs.24,95,000/- was transferred to the account of the Petitioner (therein) to be given to Parshant Patel and in lieu thereof, he got the commission worth Rs.3 lacs and he was in custody since 29.06.2022 and keeping in view his custody period and the nature of the allegation against him, he was granted regular bail vide order dated 21.12.2022. The Court further observed that, however, in the present case there were direct and serious allegations against the Petitioner that he converted approximately Rs.156 crore 22 lakh 55 thousand 109 rupees defrauded amount into USDT coins through various accounts, in connivance with the main accused Sayed Ali Hussain, who was yet to be arrested along with other co-accused and in case the Petitioner was granted bail, he could create hurdles in the further investigation.
The Bench also observed that the economic offence having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds needed to be taken seriously as such offences gravely affect the economy of the country as a whole. Hence, the concession of bail was denied.
The Decision of the Court:
The petition was dismissed. The Petitioner was denied the concession of regular bail.
Case Title: STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. GURMIT SINGH
Coram: Hon’ble MR. JUSTICE NAMIT KUMAR
Case No.- CRM-M-44238 of 2022
Advocate for Petitioner: Mr. R.S. Mamli
Advocate for Respondent: Mr. Vikrant Pamboo
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