The Supreme Court granted the conditional bail to the widow allegedly involved in GST Evasion Case.
The petitioner, Chhaya Devi is a widow with five daughters and that the business was being looked after by the Manager who was in- charge of the business.
Mr.Rohatgi, the Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that his client shall file an Undertaking within five days to the effect that she shall not create any encumbrance with respect to the properties of the business as well as her personal properties till further orders and that his client will deposit the amount representing the admitted duty element.
Earlier, the Allahabad High court rejected the bail application by stating that as the evasion of the duty is more than Rs.5 crores, therefore, the offence alleged against the applicant is cognizable and non-bailable.
The High court held that the offence alleged against the applicant is economic offence in which the evasion of duty is made against the applicant. Although the offence is punishable with imprisonment of five years yet the evasion of huge amounts of duty is a great loss to the Government Exchequer. As such the alleged offence is economic.
The three judge bench of Justices Uday Umesh Lalit, Indira Banerjee and K.M.Joseph allowed the bail to the petition subjected to two conditions.
Firstly, the petitioner shall deposit a sum of Rs.1 crore with the concerned authorities on or before May 10, 2021 and shall file appropriate proof in the Registry of this Court.
Secondly, the Undertaking shall be filed within five days.
“Pending further consideration, the petitioner shall be released on ad interim bail subject to the satisfaction of the concerned Trial Court and to facilitate the cause the petitioner shall be produced before the concerned Trial Court within three days from today,” the court said.
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