Delhi High Court
Anca Maria Neacus vs Cbi on 12 March, 2015
Author: Sunil Gaur
$~27 & 28
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of Decision: March 12, 2015
+ (i) BAIL APPLN. 1604/2014 & Crl.M.(B). 10287/14, 15113/14
ANCA MARIA NEACSU ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Maninder Singh, Mr. Dinhar
Takiar, Ms. Aekta Vats and Mr.
Jagmeet Randhawa and Mr.
Prateek Sisodia, Advocates
versus
CBI ..... Respondent
Through: Mr. Narender Mann, Special
Public Prosecutor for CBI with Mr.
Manoj Pant and Ms. Utkarsha
Kohli, Advocates with Inspector
R.S. Solanki (AC-II), CBI
+ (ii) BAIL APPLN. 1680/2014 & Crl.M.A.10112/14
WG COMMANDER (RETD) KOKA RAO ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Amerendra Sharan, Senior
Advocate, with Mr. Amit Anand
Tiwari and Mr. Abhinandan
Banerjee, Advocates
versus
CBI ..... Respondent
Through: Mr. Narender Mann, Special
Public Prosecutor for CBI with Mr.
Manoj Pant and Ms. Utkarsha
Kohli, Advocates with Inspector
R.S. Solanki (AC-II), CBI
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 1
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUNIL GAUR
JUDGMENT
% (ORAL)
In the above-captioned two bail applications, petitioners seek bail
in RC No. AC1/2012/A0012 titled CBI v. Abhishek Verma & Ors. under
Sections 120-B of IPC read with Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act,
1923 and Section 380 of IPC by claiming that the investigation of this
case is complete and petitioners are in custody for the last about 2 ½
years, therefore, further detention would serve no purpose as the trial of
this case is likely to take time.
Since the above captioned two applications arise out of common
RC, therefore, they were heard together and by this common judgment,
they are being disposed of.
At the hearing, learned senior counsel for petitioner-Koka Rao had
submitted that petitioner-Koka Rao is a senior citizen and the only
allegation against him is that hard-copy of the hand written notes of the
Projects of Air Force purportedly to be in handwriting of petitioner-Koka
Rao was sent to CBI by Mr. C. Edmonds Allen from USA and CBI had
sought opinion on it from Ministry of Defence and the opinion received
from Ministry of Defence is that the possession of these documents
brings this case under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 as the possession of
such documents is prohibited under the Official Secrets Act.
It is pointed out that the soft copy or the computer copy from
which it was generated i.e. hard-disc, is not forthcoming and so, in view
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 2
of Section 65B of the Evidence Act, the evidence put up against
petitioner-Koka Rao is inadmissible. This was refuted by learned Special
Public Prosecutor for CBI, who had submitted that the specimen
handwriting of petitioner-Koka Rao was taken and was sent for expert
opinion and the opinion received is that the handwritten notes are in the
handwriting of petitioner-Koka Rao and so, Section 3 of the Official
Secrets Act is attracted. This was disputed by learned Senior Counsel for
petitioner-Koka Rao, who had submitted that Section 3 of the Official
Secrets Act does not apply because this document has not been labelled
to be a secret document in the charge-sheet filed.
It was pointed out by learned counsel for petitioner-Koka Rao that
petitioner-Koka Rao's name does not figure in the FIR in question and
he has co-operated in the investigation of this case. It was pointed out
that petitioner-Koka Rao is suffering from major health problems.
It was thus submitted that petitioner-Koka Rao is in custody for
last more than two years and four months and the investigation of this
case is complete qua petitioner-Koka Rao and so, he deserves bail.
Mr. Narender Mann, learned Special Public Prosecutor for
respondent-CBI had submitted that the statement of Mr. C. Edmonds
Allen has been recorded by the Enforcement of Directorate in which he
has clearly stated that he had sent the hard copy of the hand-written notes
of the Projects of Air Force to the CBI. On behalf petitioner-Koka Rao, it
was pointed out that Mr.C. Edmonds Allen is neither a witness nor the
complainant. Learned Special Public Prosecutor had further submitted
that the letter of request has been already forwarded through proper
channel to Mr. C. Edmonds Allen and his response thereto is awaited.
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 3
Learned counsel for petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu had
vehemently submitted that no case is made out against petitioner-Anca
Maria Neacsu as this petitioner neither had obtained nor collected nor
communicated any secret information and merely because she is the
Founder Director of M/s. Ganton India Pvt. Ltd., would not make her
liable for the offence in question.
During the course of hearing, learned counsel for petitioner had
submitted that petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu is aged about 36 years and
is suffering from various ailments and there is no sufficient evidence
against her to justify her detention in jail for 2 ½ years and so, she
deserves bail.
Learned counsel for petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu had further
submitted that no Certificate under Section 65B of the Evidence Act was
sent alongwith purported incriminating documents and so, the
documents relied upon cannot be taken into consideration to deny bail to
petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu. To submit so, reliance was placed upon
Apex Court's decision in Anvar P.V. Vs P.K. Basheer and Ors. 2014
(10) SCALE 660.
At that stage, Mr. Narender Mann, learned Special Public
Prosecutor, had submitted that Section 15 of the Official Secrets Act
raises the statutory presumption against Founder Director of M/s. Ganton
India Pvt. Ltd. as the said company had transmitted the information
regarding secret defence documents to Mr.C. Edmonds Allen and it is for
petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu to rebut the statutory presumption against
her. Mr. Narender Mann, learned Special Public Prosecutor, had also
drawn the attention of this Court to Document No.9 in the charge-sheet
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 4
to submit that the letter of 7th September, 2012 by Deputy Registrar of
Companies, NCT of Delhi & Haryana reveals that 20% of share of M/s.
Ganton India Pvt. Ltd. is owned by petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu.
Attention of this court was drawn to paragraphs No. 16.5 to 16.7 and
16.10 of the charge-sheet to highlight the role played by petitioners.
The role of petitioner-Koka Rao as spelt out in the charge-sheet is
as under: -
"16.10 It has also been revealed during investigation
that document at Sl. No. 7 above, is scanned copy of the
Hand written notes of Projects of Air Force (P-80 to 99 of
Annexure "A") which pertains to Indian Air Force. The said
hand written notes pertain to revenue procurement of
various Directorates of Air HQ and the information
contained in it is sensitive in nature. During investigation
Wg Cdr (Retd) Kota Rao was called to join the investigation.
His specimen handwritings were taken and were sent to
GEQD for comparison with questioned documents. The
GEQD has given a positive opinion in respect of the
authorship of the said document having been written by Wg
Cdr (Retd) Koka Rao who was working for M/s Ganton
India Pvt. Ltd. The same was handed over to Shri Abhishek
Verma by Wg Cdr (Retd) Koka Rao, while he worked for
M/s Ganton India Pvt. Ltd., with dishonest intention to
benefit from this deal in an unauthorized and illegal
manner. Shri Abhishek Verma, communicated the same to
unauthorized persons with dishonest intention, whereby the
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 5
same were also received by Mr. C. Edmonds Allen from Shri
Abhishek Verma, through "Skype". This
document/information was relating to the Defence matters of
India and were containing the information which may be
directly or indirectly useful to the enemy country and the
disclosure of the same to unauthorized persons may be
prejudicial to the security and integrity of India and may
adversely affect relations with foreign countries."
As regards the role of petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu, it is
highlighted in the following paragraphs of the charge-sheet: -
"16.5 Investigation has revealed that Shri Abhishek
Verma had been introduced to one Mr. C. Edmonds Allen, a
US National, through Mr. Stephen Karolyi in early 2000.
Mr. C. Edmonds Allen a professional ESCROW agent, on
request of Shri Abhishek Verma, agreed to become his
escrow agent, to handle and invest $205 Million which he
was said to have in a trust in Liechtenstein in LGT Bank
(Liechtenstein Global Trust). Accordingly, Mr. C Edmonds
Allen and Shri Abhishek Verma entered into a Escrow
Agreement on 05.04.2000 and the same was amended on
11.02.2004. M/s Ganton Ltd. USA, was set up by Mr. C.
Edmonds Allen as per request and direction of Shri
Abhishek Verma in March, 2005. Mr. C Edmonds Allen was
the only person on the Board of Directors and he was
designated as President. This was followed by formation of
the company M/s Ganton India Pvt. Ltd., on 09.10.2009 at
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 6
New Delhi with 99.99% equity share holding of M/s Ganton
Ltd. USA. As per the statement of Mr. C. Edmonds Allen
made before the Asst. Director, Directorate of Enforcement,
this was a front company of Shri Abhishek Verma, Mrs.
Anca Maria Neacsu was the founder Director of M/s
Ganton India Pvt. Ltd. The other Directors of the company
were Shri Jitendra Kumar Garg, (Advocate), Shri Vikki
Chaudhary, Shri Arjun Arora, during different periods.
Later Mr. Cladon Edmonds Allen was also made a nominee
Director.
16.6 Investigation also revealed that the employees of M/s
Ganton India Pvt. Ltd. included ex-Indian Defence Officers
and foreigners. As per the Investigation conducted, it has
also come on record that Shri Abhishek Verma was
controlling the affairs of the company. It is pertinent to
mention here that neither Shri Abhishek Verma nor
Mrs. Anca Maria Neacsu or M/s Ganton India
Pvt. Ltd. were capable of receiving the information
documents in any capacity. Shri Abhishek Verma was
using the email [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected],
and [email protected] etc., for making
communication. The email dated 22-11-2011 and
01.12.2011 from [email protected] and
[email protected] respectively, shows that
Shri Abhishek Verma had been using the emails and other
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 7
modes of communication to give directions to his
employees. Shri Abhishek Verma had elaborate electronic
communication setup based on internet. Shri Abhishek
Verma and Mr. Anca Maria Neacsu, Director M/s Ganton
India Pvt. Ltd., in conspiracy with each other and other
known/unknown persons, got the secret information/copies
of documents related to the three wings of Indian Defence
Forces, obtained from Ministry of Defence/Defence
establishments for any purpose prejudicial to the safety and
interest of India and employed the internet infrastructure
(including "Skype" and email) to communicate the secret
and sensitive documents/information to unauthorized
persons. All these documents/information were relating to
the Defence matters of India and were containing the
information which may be directly or indirectly useful to the
enemy country and the disclosure of the same to
unauthorized persons being prejudicial to the security and
integrity of India and may adversely affect relations with
foreign countries. That copies of some such documents also
came to Mr. C. Edmonds Allen via email/Skype from Shri
Abhishek Verma or Ms. Anca Maria Neacsu.
16.7 Investigation further revealed that Shri Abhishek
Verma, with the help of others, including Mrs. Anca Maria
Neacsu and Wg Cdr (Retd) Koka Rao his employee,
obtained and communicated the documents as mentioned at
Sl. No. 1 and 2 above i.e., the "Summary of Upgrade
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 8
package" (P-26) and the "Annual Acquisition Plan 2004-
06" (P-42 to 45) which pertain to the Indian Air Force
(IAF)/ Air Wing of the Ministry of Defence. The document
"Summary of Upgrade package" was the attachment to the
email dt. 31.12.2009 of Mr. Gill Golan an employee of M/s
Ganton India Pvt. Ltd., which was sent to one Paul Parmar,
along with two other attachments. There is another email
dt. 07.12.2009, from Gill Golan to Paul Parmar which
shows the activities undertaken by Mr. Gill Golan, in
respect of M/s Elbit Systems. These emails also disclose that
one Mr. Enud Manor of M/s Elbit Systems was coming to
Delhi on 08.12.2009 which he did and during his visit to
Delhi, he met Shri Abhishek Verma and Mr. Yosef Raveh."
A copy of the detailed statement of Mr. C. Edmonds Allen is in
question-answer form and it needs no reproduction for the reason that the
role of petitioners herein has been already summed up in the charge-sheet
as referred to above.
Upon considering the submissions advanced by both the sides and
the material on record, I find that it would be premature for this Court to
opine that Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 is not attracted to
the facts of this case. The admissibility of the documents relied upon by
the prosecution is not required to be minutely examined at this stage in
the light of Apex Court's decision in Anvar (supra). The stage to do so,
would be after the arguments on charge are heard.
Petitioner-Anca Maria Neacsu is the Founder Director of M/s.
Ganton India Private Limited and in view Section 15 of the Official
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 9
Secrets Act, 1923, she is required to rebut the statutory presumption
raised against her at the charge stage. The gravity of the offence is such
which dissuades this Court to exercise its discretion to grant bail to both
petitioners at this stage. Such a view of being taken on the basis of afore-
referred statement of Mr.C. Edmonds Allen (Annexure P-8, pages 122 to
166).
In light of the aforesaid, both these applications are dismissed
while refraining to comment upon merits of this case lest it may prejudice
petitioners at the time of hearing on the point of charge.
The above-captioned two bail applications and the pending
applications are accordingly disposed of.
(SUNIL GAUR)
JUDGE
MARCH 12, 2015
rs/s
BAIL APPLN. 1604 & 1680 of 2014 Page 10
