Fake GST ID Created Using Forged Judicial Seal and Rent Deed by CA’s Employee: Gauhati HC Grants Pre-Arrest Bail to Businessman after Finding No Direct Role [Read Order]

The Gauhati High Court granted pre-arrest bail to the accused, who is a businessman, alleged to be involved in a large-scale fake GST ( Goods and Services Tax ) ID creation case involving forged judicial seals and rent deeds by the employee of a Chartered Accountant after finding no direct role with the fraud.

Faiz Ahmed, the anticipatory bail applicant is a small businessman. The case started from an FIR filed by the Anti-Evasion Wing of the CGST & CX Itanagar Commissionerate, which alleged that a fictitious firm, M/s Siddhi Vinayak Trade Merchants, fraudulently obtained GST registration using a forged rent agreement bearing a fake seal of the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Changlang, along with forged Aadhar, PAN, and electricity bills.

The firm allegedly issued fake invoices worth ₹658.25 crores, enabling fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims of about ₹99.31 crores, causing substantial loss to the government exchequer.

Justice Kardak Ete, noted that the principal accused, Ashutosh Kumar Jha, was already arrested and subsequently released on bail due to the police’s failure to file a charge sheet within 90 days.

The court recorded that the bail applicant, who runs a small business under M/s National Power in Howrah, had engaged one Chartered Accountant, Late Asis Kumar Jha, for his tax filings and had borrowed ₹30 lakh from him.

After the accountant Asis Kumar Jha’s death, his former employee Ashutosh Jha, allegedly the mastermind of the fraudulent firm, had been in contact with Ahmed regarding repayment of the loan.

The prosecution alleged that applicant’s communications and transactions with Ashutosh Jha linked him to the fraudulent operation. However, the applicant maintained that his dealings were limited to financial settlements related to the earlier loan and that he had no role in the creation or operation of the fake firm.

The court noted that the applicant had cooperated with the investigation, appeared before the Investigating Officer, and his statement under Section 180 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 was consistent with his bank records and WhatsApp conversations.

The bench, observing that the main accused was already on bail, that no evidence indicated applicant’s direct participation in the forgery, and that further custodial interrogation was unnecessary, the court made the interim bail granted on 17 September 2025 absolute.

The High Court held that the applicant had cooperated throughout and that his role appeared peripheral, primarily involving communication with the main accused.

Accordingly, he was granted the privilege of pre-arrest bail in Case registered under Sections 120B, 420, 467, 468, 471, 473, and 474 of the Indian Penal Code, concluding that his custodial detention was not required at this stage of investigation.

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