Himachal Pradesh High Court
Rajdeep Singh vs Directorate Of Enforcement Office (Ed) on 22 November, 2024
Author: Virender Singh
Bench: Virender Singh
1
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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
Whether the reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes.
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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
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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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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
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
