BEFORE THE HON’BLE COURT OF SESSIONS JUDGE AT SURAT

CRIMINAL MISC. APPLICATION NO. _____ OF 2022

RANJAN PRASAD JAISWAL,

AGED: 40 YEARS, MALE, HINDU,
RESIDING AT:
NEW SEA VIEW 402 A WING NEW RAVI RAJ
COMPLEX, JESAL PARK,
BHAYANDER EAST (THANE)-401105. … APPLICANT

VERSUS

1. STATE OF GUJARAT,
NOTICE TO BE SERVED THROUGH:
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,
SURAT

2. SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICER,

OFFICE OF ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR GENERAL OF GOODS AND
SERVICES TAX INTELLIGENCE (DGGI)SURAT ZONE,
HAVING ITS OFFICE AT:
4TH FLOOR, WHITE HOUSE,
NEAR ROONGTA SHOPPING CENTRE,
VIP ROAD,
VESU, SURAT. …
RESPONDENTS

NOTE:- SUMMONS AND PROCESS OF RESPONDENT NO.1 BE

SERVED ON THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SURAT

APPLICATION FOR ANTICIPATORY BAIL UNDER SECTION 438 OF

THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973

THE APPLICANT ABOVENAMED:

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH THAT:

1. By way of the present Application filed under Section 438 of the

Code of Criminal procedure, 1973 [“Code”], the Applicant prays

for appropriate directions for release on bail in the event of an

arrest in connection with the Enquiry undertaken by Respondent

No.2 herein in pursuance whereof the Summons dated 09.06.2022

and 01.07.2022 were issued under Section 70 of the Goods and

Services Tax Act, 2017 [“GST Act”].

2. The brief facts leading to the present Application are narrated as

under:

2.1 The Applicant herein is an Indian citizen entitled to

protection of his fundamental rights enshrined under Part-III

of the Constitution of India.

2.2 The Applicant is a law-abiding and tax-paying citizen of the

country and that he does not have any criminal antecedents.

2.3 The Applicant is the Proprietor of M/s. Gold Light Metal

Industries [“Firm”] having its Registered office at Plot No.

10, Government Industrial Area, Khadoli, Silvassa, Dadra

and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu – 396230. The said

Firm is engaged in the business of manufacturing/drawing

of copper wires and trading of copper wires. The said firm is

doing its business activities since around 7 years and has

 been regularly paying Income Tax and all other applicable

indirect taxes. It is stated that no proceedings have been

taken out against the said Firm or against the Applicant for

any tax evasion in the past.

2.4 That the Applicant has purchased material in his proprietary

firm name “M/s Gold Light Metal Industries” (which is

registered under the provisions of Goods and Services Tax

(“GST”) Acts under GSTIN No. 26AFPPJ1659E1ZC) from

various suppliers with actual supply of the goods/materials

and in its correspondence it has made sales to various

suppliers.

2.5 It is stated that the office premises of the Applicant was

abruptly raided on 09.06.2022 by the Respondent No.2 and

that during such raid, all original books of accounts and

other valuable documents such as E-way bills, LR copies,

etc. were seized and taken away by the officer in charge. It is

submitted that the Applicant’s premises were raided on an

assumption that the Applicant’s Firm was involved in

suspicious activities with regard to claiming of ITC and

circulated transactions and issued invoices without actual

movement of goods. The Applicant handed over all

documents including books of accounts, ledger accounts, E-

 way bills, LR Copies, transport details, etc. to show the flow

of transactions as well as movement of goods and the fact

that there is no false billing insofar as the goods purchased

by the Applicant’s Firm have been further sold to other

entities. Thus, there was no question of availing false Input

Tax Credit. On the same day, the Respondent No.2 issued a

Summons dated 09.06.2022 under Section 70 of the GST

Act for appearing on 14.06.2022 for the purpose of recording

of statement. Annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-A is

a copy of the said Summons dated 09.06.2022.

2.6 It is stated that due to the ill health of the Applicant’s wife,

he could not remain present on 14.06.2022 and requested

for an accommodation. Accordingly, the recording of

statement was postponed to 27.06.2022 by Respondent

No.2. On 27.06.2022, the Applicant’s authorized Counsel

remained present before the Respondent No.2, however, the

Respondent No.2 required personal presence of the Applicant

and therefore, the recording of statement was further

postponed.

2.7 Thereafter, another summons dated 01.07.2022 was issued

by the Respondent No.2 under Section 70 of the GST Act

directing the Applicant to remain present on 06.07.2022 for

 recording his statement. Annexed hereto and marked as

Annexure-B is a copy of the Summons dated 01.07.2022.

2.8 It is stated that thereafter, the Applicant remained present

on 06.07.2022 before the Respondent No.2 for the purpose of

recording of his statement. At this juncture, the Applicant

reiterated that all the transactions of his Firm were clean

and that there was no wrongdoing or false invoicing. It was

further stated that all the relevant books of accounts,

transport bills, ledger accounts, etc. were handed over

during the raid and that the statements of the Applicant can

be verified by going through the records in detail. However,

the Respondent No.2 refused to consider any of such

requests and threatened to arrest the Applicant. The

Applicant was threatened with arrest and the dire

consequences to follow such arrest and under the threat of

arrest, was compelled to admit false invoicing to the tune of

Rs. 1.5 crore. The Applicant was then asked to pay the said

amount of Rs. 1.5 crore within a period of 15 days and was

permitted to leave with such condition.

2.9 It is stated that the Applicant sent an email on 09.07.2022

to the Respondent No.2 clearly stating that the Applicant

was threatened with arrest and under such threat and

 coercion, made to admit false Input Tax Credit having been

availed to the tune of Rs. 1.5 crore. The Applicant further

stated that such admission was under coercion and not by

free will. The Applicant along with the said email sent an

Affidavit of Retraction of statement made on 06.07.2022

under coercion. Annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-C

is a copy of the email dated 09.07.2022 along with Affidavit

of retraction dated 08.07.2022.

2.10 It is stated that the Applicant is running his business

honestly and has not been involved in any wrongdoing. The

Applicant has furnished all relevant documents to the

Respondent No.2. Even when no case is made out against

the Applicant, the Respondent No.2 threatened the Applicant

with arrest and compelled him to make statements under

duress. It is submitted that this clearly shows the malafides

on the part of Respondent No.2. The Applicant, therefore,

reasonably apprehends that he may be arrested in

connection with the Enquiry being undertaken by

Respondent No.2 under one or the other pretext.

2.11 The Applicant seeks to produce herewith the Ledger

Accounts maintained by the Firm to show the genuineness of

transactions, copies whereof are annexed hereto and marked

 as Annexure-D. The Applicant also seeks to produce the

Income Tax Returns filed from 2017 to 2022, copies whereof

are annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-E.

3. The Applicant apprehending arrest and custody in connection with

the said Enquiry approaches this Hon’ble Court for grant of

Anticipatory Bail on the following amongst other grounds which

are without prejudice to one another:

GROUNDS

A. The Applicant is innocent and he has not committed any

alleged offences and he is falsely implicated in the present

case.

B. The Applicant has no criminal antecedents and has never

been involved in such activities.

C. The Applicant is in fact a victim of such a false and

motivated enquiry.

D. The Applicant has not committed any offence of availing

Input Tax Credit based on any bogus invoices and that the

said allegations are wholly untrue and vexatious.

E. That as per the provisions of the law, mere conducting of

sale and purchase transactions, availing ITC as per Form 2A

 cannot fall under the ambit of an offence or an illegal act and

furthermore the Applicant has duly complied and filed

periodical return under the GST laws which has all the

details of every transaction conducted for sale and purchase.

That the Applicant is regularly filing applicable returns and

paying the taxes.

F. That the GST Department (DGGI) has not found any

discrepancy in the returns filed by the Applicant. The ITC is

availed by the Applicant as per the Form 2A reflected on the

portal of the Department and no excess ITC is availed as

evidenced by Form 3B. As such, the Applicant has not

committed any crime as alleged by the GST Officials (DGGI).

G. The Applicant’s premises were raided on 09.06.2022 and all

the relevant documents such as original books of accounts,

LR copies, transport details, E-way bills were furnished to

show that the Applicant is doing genuine transactions and

that each purchase can be matched with sales and that both

transactions of purchase and sale can be matched with the

E-way bills and transport details. The Applicant has

therefore fully cooperated with the Enquiry being conducted

by Respondent No.2.
H. The Applicant also went to the Respondent No.2 on

06.07.2022 to record his statement. However, on that day

the Applicant was threatened with immediate arrest and its

consequences. The statements recorded by the officials of the

DGGSI are under a cloud of suspicion and that the

statements of the Applicant have been recorded by putting

him in a state of fear, duress, under coercion and by

exercising undue influence, using arm twisting methods and

therefore the veracity of the statements have to be

ascertained which have been extracted to suit the

convenience of the DGGI (Directorate General of Goods and

Service Tax Intelligence Unit). Thus the Applicant was

compelled to make a statement of admission under duress,

which was immediately retracted by the Applicant one day

later on 09.07.2022 through email as well as speed post.

I. That the alleged offence is not punishable with death or

imprisonment for life, therefore bar put by sec. 437 of Cr. P.

C will not come in the way of his prayer for grant of bail.

J. It has been consistently held that by the Courts of the

country that ‘Bail is the rule and jail is an exception’. Thus,

only under exceptional circumstances, the accused persons

should be arrested. Applying this principle to the present

 case, it is submitted that the Applicant, having fully

cooperated with the Enquiry by furnished documents and

also recording his statement, should be protected from

arrest.

K. The Applicant is having permanent residence in Thane,

Maharashtra and his factory is located at Daman and

Diu and therefore has roots in the society. There arises

no question of the Applicant absconding and/or not

being available for Enquiry. Considering the totality of

the circumstances, custody of Applicant is not

required. Useful reference may be made to the

judgment of the Bombay High Court in the case of

Meghraj Moolchand Burad v. Directorate General of

GST (Intelligence), Pune and Another, Anticipatory Bail

Application No. 2333 of 2018 [2019 (21) G.S.T.L. 125

(Bom.)]. The Hon’ble High Court rejected the

Anticipatory Bail taking into consideration the conduct

of the applicant, gravity of offence and the serious

allegations made under similar circumstances. This

order travelled to the Supreme Court in Petition for

Special Leave to Appeal Crl. Nos. 244/2019, dated 9-1-

2019 [2019 (24) G.S.T.L. J82 (S.C.)] by the petitioner

 therein, wherein the Bench has issued notice and

granted interim protection in the following terms :-

‘ Issue notice.

In the meantime, the petitioner shall not be arrested,

provided he appears before the Directorate General of

GST Intelligence and in the event of his arrest, he shall

be released on bail on furnishing security to the

satisfaction of the competent authority.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that

the petitioner shall regularly appear, as and when he is

called for.”

(Emphasis supplied)

L. The Applicant will not abscond and will make himself

available for Enquiry purpose as and when called for

by the Respondent No.2 and will not hamper or

tamper the evidence.

M. The Applicant submits that he is in not even remotely

connected with the said offence as alleged or

otherwise.
 N. The Applicant undertakes to co-operate with the

Respondent No.2 and shall make himself available as

and when called.

O. There are no such circumstances that require custody

of the Applicant and even otherwise, investigation is

not going to be hampered if Anticipatory Bail is

granted.

P. It is also important to note that no fruitful purpose

would be served by taking Applicant into the custody.

Q. The Applicant shall abide by all the terms and

conditions as may be imposed by this Hon’ble Court if

he is immediately released on Bail pursuant to his

arrest.

R. Even otherwise, the present Application deserves to be

granted in the interest of justice.

4. The Applicant seeks liberty of this Hon’ble Court to add, amend,

alter and delete any of the aforesaid grounds and the same may

not be treated as suppression of material facts.

 5. The Applicant has not preferred any application before

this Hon’ble Court or before any other Hon’ble Court

touching the subject matter.

6. In the aforesaid premises, the Applicant most respectfully

prays that:

A. Your Lordship may be pleased to allow the present

Application;

B. Your Lordship may be pleased to direct the Respondent

No.2 not to arrest the Applicant in connection with the

Enquiry in question and the Applicant be immediately

released on Bail after taking Bail Bond as this Hon’ble

Court may direct;

C. Any other and further reliefs as the nature and

circumstances of the case may require.

AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS AND JUSTICE THE APPLICANT

SHALL AS IN DUTY BOUND FOREVER PRAY.

Place: ____________. ______________________

Date: .07.2022. (Applicant)
For Gandhi Law Associates
Advocates for the Applicant

AFFIDAVIT

I; Ranjan Prasad Jaiswal, Aged: 40 years, Male, Hindu,

Residing at: New Sea View, 402, A-Wing, New Ravi Raj
Complex, Jesal Park, Bhayander, East (Thane) - 401105; do
hereby declare on solemn affirmation that:-
Whatever stated hereinabove is true to the best of my

knowledge, belief and information.

Place: Surat

Date: ________________________

Solemnly affirmed before me, who is identified by

_____________________________________ whom I personally know.

I know the deponent

(Advocate)