Punjab & Haryana High Court (HC) granted bail to the forest officers who were ranked as Forest Range Officer(FRO) and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) for fabricating fake Goods and Service Tax (GST) details and misappropriation of the Government Funds.
The petitioner seeked to grant regular bail under Section 439 Criminal Procedure Code registered under Sections 7, 7-A, 13(1)(A)(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B IPC (Sections 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 IPC added later on).
It was claimed in the allegation against the petitioner that during the course of the investigation, the FRO (Petitioner) had produced original bills dated 17.08.2022, which were examined and verified. The money had been set aside for preparing 2537 tree guards, with a total cost price of Rs. 45,69,000/- at the same time the petitioners were posted.
It has also been noted that the petitioner, who was the then FRO, obtained the purchase invoices from M/s Ambay Cement Store, Govt. Girls School Road, Channo, and M/s Jain Cement and Accessories Store, BathindaPatiala Road, Patiala, for the materials necessary to manufacture 2537 tree guards.
It has further come on record during the course of investigation that the GST and Mobile number was not found existing at the address given in the both bills.
The GST numbers provided were also not issued by the concerned Government Department and the same were also found to be forged and fabricated.
In addition, it has been mentioned that during the course of the investigation, the official bank account record of the FRO was also obtained. It was discovered that the FRO operated one bank account with the HDFC Bank on an official level, and that a budget amount of Rs. 45,69,000 was transferred through various entries from the Government Account to the account handled by the FRO in his name.
The FRO had also opened an additional bank account with Axis Bank, and whenever funds from the budget were transferred through various entries in the aforementioned bank account with the HDFC Bank, the petitioner immediately received the same funds in the HDFC bank account with Axis Bank.
The HC observed that the petitioner was subjected to police remand for 8 days, but no recovery has been effected from the petitioner. Petitioner has been in custody since 29.08.2022. Now the petitioner is in judicial custody.
Further it was remarked that it is appropriate to grant regular bail to the petitioner on parity after filing of the challan without meaning anything on merits of the case.
The bench held that the petitioner is directed to be released on regular bail subject to his furnishing adequate bail bonds and surety bonds to the satisfaction of the concerned trial Court/Duty Magistrate.
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