The Delhi High Court cancelled the anticipatory bail in the case relating to fraudulently obtaining input tax credit (ITC) worth Rs.200 crores by projecting transactions.
During search of the registered premises of the exporter M/s Harsha International, it was revealed that no business activity relating to export was being carried out and a kirana store was being operated by the father of Jitender Kumar from the registered place of business.
Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel were summoned by the DGGI, however, they did not join investigation and instead moved an application for grant of anticipatory bail, which was allowed by a common order dated 21st December, 2022 and both Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel were granted anticipatory bail subject to certain conditions.
The Senior Standing Counsels appearing on behalf of the DGG submitted that Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel are both the masterminds behind the entire fraud. Both of them are habitual offenders who have been involved in other cases involving receipt of fraudulent Input Tax Credit on the basis of fake invoices without actual supply of goods. Anticipatory bail granted to Chaman Goel has been rightly cancelled by the Sessions Court as he was trying to escape the country and flee from justice.
The Senior Counsels appearing on behalf of Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel contended that the GST payable on purchase of cigarettes was duly paid by the accused persons and it is not the case of the DGGI that fake bills were made for the purchase of the cigarettes. Insofar as the contention of the DGGI alleging that the cigarettes were sold loose in the market, no iota of evidence has been collected and produced by the DGGI to prove the same, despite lapse of more than a year. Merely on the basis that one of the consignments was found to be spurious, it cannot be assumed that all previous consignments were spurious as well.
A Single Bench of Justice Amit Bansal observed that “In the present case, the accused persons are involved in fraudulently obtaining Input Tax Credit worth Rs.200 crores by projecting transactions only on paper and without the actual purchase or sale of goods. As a result, they have duped the government exchequer and the taxpayers of a huge amount of money.”
“Considering the aforesaid facts and circumstances, including the fact that Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel are the beneficiaries in an economic fraud involving a large corpus and were evading summons until the grant of anticipatory bail, the accused Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel were not entitled to be admitted on anticipatory bail. The impugned order has been passed without appreciating the material on record and cannot be sustained and hence is set aside. As noted above, Chaman Goel has also sought to flee the country in complete disregard of the bail condition. Accordingly, the anticipatory bail granted to Chirag Goel and Chaman Goel stands cancelled” the Court noted.
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