The Rajasthan High Court granted the bail to a person accused of creating fictitious firms and committed fraud to the tune of Rs. 22 Crores.
The petitioner, Aditya Gupta was in custody since June 20, 2018. Maximum punishment that can be awarded is a sentence of five years. Hence, the petitioner was entitled to be released on bail.
Case is listed for pre-charge evidence before the trial court and statements of 15 witnesses out of 45prosecution witnesses have been recorded so far. There is no possibility of conclusion of trial at an early date.
On the other hand the respondent department has opposed the petition and has submitted that allegations levelled against the petitioner were serious in nature. After thorough investigation of the case it transpired that the accused had committed fraud to the tune of Rs. 22 Crores by creating fictitious firms and had claimed tax input credit.
The single judge bench of Justice Sabina noted that although in the present case allegations levelled against the petitioner are serious in nature but the fact remains that the petitioner is in custody for the last more than two years and admittedly maximum punishment to be imposed on the accused, if convicted, is five years.
Therefore, the court held that petitioner be admitted to bail subject to furnishing bail bond in the sum of Rs. 10 Lakhs with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Trial Court.
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