Punjab-Haryana High Court

Satinder Kaur vs State Of Punjab on 15 January, 2024

Author: Jasjit Singh Bedi

Bench: Jasjit Singh Bedi

                                                    Neutral Citation No:=2024:PHHC:005163




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 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

                      CRM-M-52010-2022 (O & M)
                      Date of decision:15.01.2024

Satinder Kaur                                                 ...... Petitioner
           V/s

State of Punjab                                                  ...Respondent

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASJIT SINGH BEDI

Present:     Ms. Bhavna Kapur, Advocate,
             for the petitioner.

             Mr. Kirat Singh Sidhu, DAG, Punjab.

             Mr. B.D. Sharma, Advocate, for the complainant.

                 *****

JASJIT Singh BEDI, J. (Oral)

The prayer in the present petition under Section 438 Cr.P.C. is

for the grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioner in case FIR No.106 dated

11.11.2021 under Section 408, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC

registered at Police Station Lambran, District Jalandhar.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the complaint was made by

one Ram Kumar Yadav who was duly authorized by the complainant

companies. Based on the complaint made, an enquiry was conducted. It

was prima facie found that the offences as alleged had been committed.

Thereafter, an opinion of the DA was taken, based on which the Instant FIR

came to be registered. The same reads as under:-

"To, The Senior Superintendent of Police Rural, Jalandhar. Sub:

Complaint Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia son of Mr. Pritam Singh, 2. Mrs. Satinder Kaur wife of Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia, 3. Mr. Jaspreet Singh son of Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia, 4.Mr. Saranjit Singh son of Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walla, 5.Mr. Hari Om son of Mr. 1 of 14

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Satish Kumar, all residents of Shalimar Avenue, near Harnam Sankirtan Mandir, Kapurthala Application for registration of criminal case under Sections 420,408,465,467,468,471,120-B IPC for cheating and fraud and forging false documents. Respected Sir, it is respectfully submitted as under: 1. That the Mr. Ram Kumar Yadav s/o Sh. Ram Sahai Yadav r/o VPO. Lambra, Distt. Jalandhar is the duly authorized person of the firms/companies namely M/s Shadi Ram & Sons Private Limited, M/s SRS Exports PVT.Ltd., M/s Shadi Ram Mohan Cold Storage, M/s SRS Agri Products Pvt Ltd.. situated at village Lambra, Tehsil and District Jalandhar and also running branches at Mumbai, (Maharashtra)and Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu). All the above mentioned concerns are sister concerns and are dealing in the important and export of food grain items and also running a cold storage at Lambra. M/s Shadi Ram & Sons Private Limited was previously run as a partnership concern till it was converted in to a Private Limited Company on 08-08-2016 with Mr. Jiwan Kumar Mohan,Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mohan, Mr. Rishi Kumar Mohan, Mr. Ravi Kumar Mohan, Mrs. Shivani Mohan, Mrs. Meenal Mohan and Mrs. Sumanbala Mohan as share holders the first four share holders and one mr.varinderupadhayay constituded the board of directors of company similarly, M/s SRS Exports Pvt. Ltd., VPO Lambra Jalandhar was incorporated in the year 1995, in which Mr.sandeep Kumar Mohan, Mr. Rishi Kumar Mohan, Mr. Ravi Kumar Mohan and Mrs. Shivani Mohan are the Directors in the firm M/s Shadi Ram Mohan Cold Storage, situated at village Lambra, Mr. Jiwan Kumar Mohan and Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mohan are partners, M/s SRS Agri Products Pvt. Lltd., Lambra is also a Private Limited company with Mr. Jiwan Kumar Mohan as Managing Director and Mrs. Shivani Mohan as other director. Copy of the resolutions and authority letters in the name of the Mr. Ram Kumar Yadav s/o Sh. Ram Sahai Yadav r/o VPO Lambra, Distt.

Jalandhar from above mentioned companies/firm and Individuals are enclosed. The above said persons hold accounts in the names of the companies/ firm as well as in their personal name with different bank at Jalandhar. All the above said persons are residing in Australia for the last above 30 years. The above mentioned companies/firm and Individuals form a group which is popularly known as Shadi Ram Group, 2. That the accused Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia was appointed as Chief Accountant about 25 years back by the Shadi Ram Group, firstly in the firm Shadi Ram & 2 of 14

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Sons. That after Incorporation of other above mentioned firm/companies, he was also entrusted with the similar work for those entities. In the beginning the accused Mr. Jaswinder Singh walla did his job honestly and diligently and won the confidence of the owners of the firm and companies. The owner were totally dependent on the advice of said Mr. Jaswinder Singh walia and had been acting as per his advice. It may be mentioned here that till the year 2008, the father of Mr Jiwan Kumar Mohan and Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mohan were looking after the business of the group in India and after his demise in may 2008, the owners were left with no option but to hand over the business charge with the said Mr. Jaswinder Singh walia who after some time started making plans to grab the valuable assets and bank balance of the companies and the personal saving accounts of the above said persons. In order to execute his illegal designs, the said Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia also included his wife and two sons namely Mrs. Satinder Kaur, Mr.Jaspreet Singh and Mr.Saranjit Singh in the conspiracy along with his servant Hari Om who was also residing in the house of Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia. All the accused acted in a preplanned conspiracy to accomplish their illegal designs. The said Mr.Jaswinder Singh Walia also opened some fake bank account raised some fake invoice/documents to grab the proceeds lying in various bank accounts belonging to the companies/firm/Individuals.

3. It is pertinent to mention here that Mr Jaswinder Singh Walia was employed at a monthly salary Rs.8,000.00 which was ultimately increased to Rs. 1,00,000.00. At the of detection of fraud, the accused would manipulate the accounts for satisfying the owners on their short visit to India and they could never doubt the integrity of said Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia as their visit to India was also for very short durations and the accused had the knack of making them busy in other activities 4. That the whole suspicion of the wrong doings of Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia started with the death of one of the relative, Mr. Varinder Kumar Mohan, the cousin of Mr. Jiwan Kumar Mohan who died in Australia in Mmarch 2021. Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia was also looking after the banking transactions of the deceased Mr. Varinder Kumar Mohan and when Mr. Jiwan Kumar Mohan demanded bank statement relating to the account of Mr. Varinder Kumar Mohan in March, 2021 the accused was initially reluctant to send the bank statement of the deceased with Punjab National Bank, Lambra Jalandhar. After repeated 3 of 14

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requests and demands, he after manipulating the bank statements sent the same to Mr .Jiwan Kumar Mohan. On suspicion, the matter was verified from bank and different sources and it came to notice that the bank statement sent by Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia was fake and did not show the correct entries of transfer of money from the account of deceased to his Individual account. On suspicion, when Mr. Jiwan Kumar Mohan contacted the accused Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia, he did not give proper reply. Consequent enquiry was made by the complainants, it got revealed that the said Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia in connivance with his family members and other prepared forged and fabricated documents and transferred huge money to their individual accounts in order to cheat and defraud the companies and personal rights of the complaints. 5.(a) that M/s Shadi Ram & Sons Private Limited has its accounts with different banks which are as given below:

Annexure Attached FIR.P1(B) that M/s SRS Exports Private Limited its accounts with bank which are as given below :1.bank name Punjab National Bank, Lambra Account No. 2999002100001823 (b) that M/s shadi Ram Mohan Cold Storage has its accounts with different banks which are as given below; 1 bank name Punjab National Bank, Lambra account 073002100007386 6. (a) that Mr Jiwan Kumar has his personal saving/loan account with different banks. The details for the same are give below: 1 bank name Bank of India, Sutluj Market, Jalandhar 640432110000108 2. bank name Bank of India, Sutluj Market, Jalandhar 640410110001548 3.Punjab National Bank, Lambra 0753000101845802 (b) that Mr. Sandeep Kumar has his personal saving/loan account with different banks the detail for the same are as given below :1. bank name Bank of India, Sutluj Market, Jalandhar account 640432110000105. 2. bank name Bank of India, Sutluj Market, Jalandhar account 640410110001551, 3. HDFC Bank Ltd., Lambra 22381000005998,4, Punjab National Bank, Lambra account no. 0753000100043726 (c) that Mr. ravi Kumar has his personal saving/loan account with different banks the details for the same are as given below: 1. Bank of India, Sutluj Market, Jalandhar 640432110000106, 2. Bank of India, Sutluj Market, Jalandhar 640410110001550, (d) that Mr. Rishi Kumar Mohan has his personal saving/loan account with different banks the details for the same are as given below: 1. Bank of India, Sutluj Market, Jalandhar account no. 340432110000107, 2. Bank of

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India, Sutiuj Market, Jalandhar account no. 640410110001549 (e) that Mrs. Sumanbala Mohan has his personal saving/loan account with different banks the detail for the same are as given below 1. Orientail Bank of Commerce (now Punjab National Bank) Lambra 05642151018500. It is worthwhile and Important to mention of one fictitious account (detail given below), which was opened by Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia on 13.10.2016 in the name of mr.sandeep Kumar mohan to use the same for defrauding the complaints by transfer the money to his account. The said account was opened by Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia without consent, knowledge of Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mohan or without any authority 1. bank name Axis Bank Ltd., Lambra 916010060044074. All the ATMs, Credit Cards of the aforesaid accounts are with Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia and he had been operating the said accounts. All the matters relating to the companies and firms were independently operated by the said Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia to Mr. Jiwan Kumar Mohan in Australia in March, 2021. It transpired that some of the entries in the account statement were forged and fabricated. On detailed enquiries, it came to the knowledge that Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia in connivance with his wife sons and servant and others with common intention and conspiracy with each other had been preparing forged and fabricated documents and transferred crores of rupees to his family members and associates accounts to cause undue loss to the firms/companies and Individuals. A large sum of money was also repatriated/transferred by the accused Mr. Jaswinder Singh Walia in the bank accounts of family members in Canada. Some of the entries of fraud committed by Mr.Jaswinder Singh Walia and others are as under: (a) from the bank account of M/s Shadi Ram and Sons Pvt. Ltd. (1)Punjab National Bank, Lambra account no.2999002100002576 attached with FIR. On behalf of the above said persons in order to achieve his goal the accused used to transfer amount in Axis Account from different account maintained by SRS Group and their owner and then use the funds so transferred in Axis Bank to his own or associated accounts/ATM cash withdrawals/direct Payment to third parties/Expenditure/shopping by him. Total amount of Rs. 16,94,804.57 has been transacted in this account by Mr.Jaswinder Singh Walia for his benefit and for his own purpose. Copy of statement is enclosed here with. Main transactions are as given below: (b) Jaswinder Singh Walia also operated locker of Mr. Shadi

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Ram Mohan after his death by using security keys, which was in his possession and removed the jewellery from the locker held with Punjab National Bank, Lambra (V) that from the above said facts it is clear that being an employee of the firms/companies also acting on behalf of complainants Individually, he was entrusted with valuable securities and documents like ATM, cheque books etc., the accused with the malafide intention and in order to cheat and defraud the companies/firms and Individuals, in connivance with his family members/associates detailed above and guilty associates prepared forged and fabricated documents with common intention and conspiracy with each other. He submitted fake documents for transaction on behalf of the above mentioned persons. He duped and looted the companies/firms and complainants for sum of crores of rupees. After committing such a heinous offence, he has left the job without Intimation and is known to have fled to Canada along with his family. (VI) That the act of the accused criminal offence, for which he and his associates are liable to be punished and prosecuted. It is therefore respectfully prayed that a case may be ordered to be registered against all the accused under the law in order to impart justice to the complainants and to banner of law and order. Thanking you, yours faithfully, Ram Kumar Yadav authorized person for 1. Jiwan Kumar Mohan 2. Sumanbala 3. Sandeep Kumar Mohan 4. Rishi Kumar Mohan 5. Ravi Kumar Mohan. That the application was marked to SSP (Investigation Jalandhar) who after carrying out the investigation have written in their report that bank statements of Jaswinder Singh Walia and Hari Om were obtained which shows that the bank statements of all the firms of the applicant Shadi Ram Mohan are identical to each other. Upon investigation it is found that the sons of Jaswinder Singh Walia namely sharanjit Singh, Jaspreet Singh and the neighbor of Jaswinder Singh Walia, Hari Om are found to be innocent. They have no role in the fraud committed by Jaswinder Singh Walia upon the complainants. Upon considering all the factors as discussed above it is found that Jaswinder Singh Walia along with his wife have created false receipts and forged the signatures of the complainants by copy pasting from the computer and have usurped about RS. 66,00,000 from the accounts of Shadi Ram and sons and have transferred the same to their accounts and the accounts of their sons Sharanjit Singh, Jaspreet Singh. They have forged the signatures of the complainant Sandeep Kumar Mohan and have

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opened fake accounts in HDFC Bank Lambra and Axis Bank Lambra. From the fake account in the name of Sandeep Kumar Mohan in HDFC Bank Lambra, an amount of Rs. 1,06,53,000 has been transferred in the bank account of the wife Satinder Kaur having Account Number 1381000184124, HDFC Bank Kapurthala. An amount of Rs. 16,46,000 has been withdrawn by Jaswinder Singh Walia via ATM as cash and another 46,00,000 has been withdrawn by Jaswinder Singh Walia for his personal expenses. Jaswinder Singh Walia has also got transferred Rs.13,00,000 by cheating from the account of Darshan Lal and Company and have obtained personal home Items from that money and have also prepared fake statements of the complainant's Punjab National Bank Account Number 0753008800000270. Hence it can be concluded that Jaswinder Singh Walla along with his wife Satwinder Kaur have committed a fraud amounting to Rs. 3 croes. Hence it is requested to register a case against Jaswinder Singh Walia son of Pritam Singh Walia and wife Satwinder Kaur, r/o Shalimar Avenue, near Harnam Sant Kirtan Mandir Kapurthala u/s 408,420,465,467,468,471,120-B IPC Report is submitted. Sd/- Ranjit Singh (PPM), SSP, Detective, District Jalandhar, dated 21.08.2021 on which SSP has asked DA Legal for opinion for which DA legal has submitted as under:

Subject: Application No. 1551 PTM dated 10.07.2021 report regarding Jeewan Kumar Mohan, Suman Bala etc. Inquiry: SSP, Detective, District Jalandhar. That I have carefully gone through the documents as submitted by the complainant and the report as submitted by SSP, Detective, District Jalandhar, it has been found by the Investigating officers that the complainants are owners of M/s Shadi Ram and sons, M/s SRS Exports Private Limited, M/s Shadi Ram Mohan Cold Storage, M/s SRS Agri Products Pvt. Ltd.. These firms have their bank accounts in different banks in Lambra and most of their dealings are with Punjab National Bank Lambra. That Jaswinder Singh Walla son of Pritam Singh Walla was working as a chief account at their firms in Lambra from the last 25 years who use to get a salary of Rs. 50,000 per month earlier who from year 2018 use get Rs. 1,00,000. When Jaswinder Singh Walia had to transfer any money to any person from the Shadi Ram and sons or any other firm of the company, then Jaswinder Singh Walia use to make a letter M in the name of that person and the same was sent via e-mail to the complainant and the complainant on

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receiving the email use to sign that email and send it back to Jaswinder Singh Walia and he use to take a printout of that letter and then give it to the bank and get the money transferred to the concerned persons. In regards to which a report has been obtained fom PNB bank which tell that M/s Shadi Ram and sons had the following accounts with our branch, M/s Shadi Ram and Sons Private Limited AC No.0753002100007386, M/s Shadi Ram Mohan Cold Storage AC No. 2999002100002576, M/s SRS Agri Products Pvt Ltd AC No. 0753002100008543 party operates these accounts by sending mandates given the party, Jaswinder Singh walla has transferred Rs. 66,00,000 in the account of his son Jaspreet Singh and Rs. 9,50,000 in the account of Hari Om. Jaswinder Singh Walia has got the money transferred from the bank by copy pasting the signatures of the complainant from the computer and creating false letters. The complainant had mentioned that he was fully dependent upon Jaswinder Singh Walia as their whole family was living in Australia hence whever they use to come to india they use to give some blank signed cheques to Jaswinder Singh Walia. So Jaswinder Singh Walia has misused the blank signed cheques as given by Sandeep Kumar and by doing forged signatures of Sandeep Kumar Mohan have got an account opened in HDFC Bank Lambra Ac No. 22381000005998 and in this account Jaswinder Singh walla has given his own mobile no. and email id. He has got around Rs. 1,06,53,000 transferred from this account to the account of his wife Satwinder Kaur who has a account in HDFC Bank Kapurthala having account number 1381000184124 from the year 2014 to the year 2020 and another 16,46,000 has been withdrawn by Jaswinder Singh Walla for his personal expenses and around 46,00,000 has been spent by him for his personal expenses. He has used international banking and ATM to commit this fraud. Jaswinder Singh Walia has credited an amount of Rs. 1,81,38,218 from the account by creating false letters from the accounts of the firms of the complainant company and by copying the signatures of the complainant company. Jaswinder Singh Walia has mentioned in its statement that he has not given his phone number or email id for any of the accounts of the complainant whereas in the account of HDFC bank Ac No. 22381000005998 which has been opened up by Jaswinder Singh Walla has the phone number 98159-38633 which belongs to Jaswinder Singh Walia and the email id: [email protected] also belongs to

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Jaswinder Singh Walia and that Jaswinder Singh Walla has committed a fraud of Rs. 1,81,00,000 through net banking and ATM. Apart from this even the Account at AXIS Bank Lambra having AC No. 916010060044074 also has the mobile number 98159-38633. It has also been found by the investigating officers that the bank statements as submitted by the complainant Shadi Ram Mohan are not identical to each other. Upon investigation it is found that the sons of Jaswinder Singh Walia namely sharanjit Singh, Jaspreet Singh and the neighbor of Jaswinder Singh Walla, Hari Om are found to be innocent and they have no role in the above said fraud as committed by Jaswinder Singh Walla. Upon considering all the factors as discussed above it is found that Jaswinder Singh Walla along with his wife have created false receipts and forged the signatures of the complainants by copy pasting from the computer and have usurped about RS. 66,00,000 from the accounts of Shadi Ram and sons and have transferred the same to their accounts and the accounts of their sons Sharanjit Singh, Jaspreet Singh. Jaswinder Singh Walla has done fake signatures of Sandeep Kumar Mohan and got fake accounts opened in HDFC Bank and Axis Bank Lambra and got around Rs. 1,6,53,000 transferred from this account to the account of his wife Satwinder Kaur who has a account in HDFC Bank Kapurthala having account number 1381000184124 and another 16,46,000 has been withdrawn by Jaswinder Singh Walla for his personal expenses through ATM and around 46,00,000 has been spent by him for his personal expenses. Jaswinder Singh Walla has also got transferred Rs.13,00,000 by cheating from the account of Darshan Lal and Company and have obtained personal home Items from that money and have also prepared fake statements of the account of the complainant. Hence it can be concluded that Jaswinder Singh Walia along with his wife Satwinder Kaur have committed a fraud amounting to Rs.3 crores. Based on which the investigating officers have requested to register a case against Jaswinder Singh Walia and his wife u/s 408,420,465,467,468,471,120-B IPC Upon the accusations put up by the complainant it has been found that a criminal offence has been committed and it has been held by the Hon'ble Supreme court in Lalita Kumari vs State of UP that if the offences are made out upon an application by the complainant then a case needs to be registered u/s 154 CrPc. All the above factors are investigated by a gazette officer and hence according to me,

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based on the complaint and the report as submitted an offence u/s 408,420,465,467,468,471,120-B IPC is made out against Jaswinder Singh Walia and his wife. If any offence is made out against any other person or their involvement in the above fraud is detected during the investigation then the further Investigation can be done accordingly and the matter can be Investigated in the close supervision of a gazeted officer. If required then the necessary orders can be passed by you. Sd/- Dinesh Kumar dated 11.10.2021, District Attorny Legal Jalandhar has written it to SSP Jalandhar over which SSP Jalandhar has written and asked SHO Lambra to register the case and investigated as per law and facts.

SD/- Satinder Singh IPS dated 10.11.0221 Sr. Supdt. Of. Police. Jalandhar(rural). Today station: The Inquiry report along with the opinion of DA Legal has been received and based on the FIR a case is registered under the above said sections and the FIR along with the inquiry report and the opinion of DA Legal is being sent to ASI Jagtaar Singh 42. Officer Bala has been informed the same through mobile phone and an intimation is sent to control room through wireless. Report No.33 dated 11.11.2021".

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the

petitioner had been falsely implicated in the present case being the wife of

the main accused-Jaswinder Singh Walia. In fact, she was a lady of the age

of 59 years and was neither an employee of the complainant companies nor

concerned with the affairs of the companies in any manner. Further, no

specific role had been attributed to her. An amount of Rs.1 Crore 65 lacs

had been deposited in her name and it would be seen during the course of the

Trial as to what was the nature of the said transfer, though, it is the case of

the petitioner that Rs.1 Crore had been received by her as an Education loan

for her two sons. Various civil suits had been filed but she was a defendant

in only one of the said suits. As the petitioner had joined investigation, she

was entitled to the concession of bail as her custodial interrogation was not

required.

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4. The learned counsel for the State and the counsel for the

complainant, on the other hand, contend that the husband of the petitioner in

connivance with the petitioner had siphoned off more than Rs. 3 Crores from

the complainant-firms/companies. An amount of Rs.1,06,53,000/- had come

to the bank account of the petitioner. In fact, Jaswinder Singh Walia,

husband of the petitioner, in conspiracy with her, had forged bank

statements, opened fictitious accounts by forging the signatures of various

directors/partners of the complainant companies and had even stolen jewelry

from the locker of the one of the said directors/partners. Quite apparently,

the petitioner was in connivance with her husband as was borne out from the

police investigation. The defence of obtaining an Educational loan was an

attempt to justify the transaction in her account. In fact, the said amount had

been received over a number of years vide different transactions and had it

been an Education loan, the amount would have come to her account in one

tranche only and payments would have been made to some educational

institution. However, there was no such evidence of the money received

being paid to a school/college either in India or abroad. Merely because the

petitioner had joined investigation did not entitle her to the grant of

anticipatory bail once the offence was prima facie established against her

from the evidence available on record.

5. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties.

6. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of 'Sumitha Pradeep

Vs. Arun Kumar C.K. & Anr. 2022(4) RCR (Criminal) 977', has held that

merely because custodial interrogation was not required by itself could not

be a ground to grant anticipatory bail. The first and the foremost thing the

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facie case against the accused. The relevant extract of the judgment is

reproduced hereinbelow:-

"It may be true, as pointed out by learned counsel appearing for Respondent No.1, that charge-sheet has already been filed. It will be unfair to presume on our part that the Investigating Officer does not require Respondent No.1 for custodial interrogation for the purpose of further investigation.

Be that as it may, even assuming it a case where Respondent No.1 is not required for custodial interrogation, we are satisfied that the High Court ought not to have granted discretionary relief of anticipatory bail.

We are dealing with a matter wherein the original complainant (appellant herein) has come before this Court praying that the anticipatory bail granted by the High Court to the accused should be cancelled. To put it in other words, the complainant says that the High Court wrongly exercised its discretion while granting anticipatory bail to the accused in a very serious crime like POCSO and, therefore, the order passed by the High Court granting anticipatory bail to the accused should be quashed and set aside. In many anticipatory bail matters, we have noticed one common argument being canvassed that no custodial interrogation is required and, therefore, anticipatory bail may be granted. There appears to be a serious misconception of law that if no case for custodial interrogation is made out by the prosecution, then that alone would be a good ground to grant anticipatory bail. Custodial interrogation can be one of the relevant aspects to be considered along with other grounds while deciding an application seeking anticipatory bail. There may be many cases in which the custodial interrogation of the accused may not be required, but that does not mean that the prima facie case against the accused should be ignored or overlooked and

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he should be granted anticipatory bail. The first and foremost thing that the court hearing an anticipatory bail application should consider is the prima facie case put up against the accused. Thereafter, the nature of the offence should be looked into along with the severity of the punishment. Custodial interrogation can be one of the grounds to decline custodial interrogation. However, even if custodial interrogation is not required or necessitated, by itself, cannot be a ground to grant anticipatory bail."

7. In the present case, a perusal of the original complaint, enquiry

report and the opinion of the DA would clearly establish that the petitioner

and her husband siphoned off a huge amount of money from the various

bank accounts of the directors/partners of the complainant-companies after

forging various documents. The justification furnished by the petitioner was

that she had obtained an Education loan for her sons cannot be accepted by

any stretch of imagination. It does not stand to reason that she would

receive various amounts in her bank over a significant period of time vide

different transactions if it was to be an Education loan. Further, her

husband-Jaswinder Singh Walia has absconded to Canada and despite an

undertaking being given to this Court that he would return back to India

within 03 months in November, 2023, he has chosen not to do so.

8. Looking at the serious nature of the allegations levelled against

the petitioner and her co-accused and as the offence stand prima facie

established, she is not entitled to the concession of anticipatory bail.

Therefore, the present petition stands dismissed.

9. However, it is made clear that the observations made in this

order are only for the purpose of deciding this bail application and the Trial

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