Ashish Tyagi Vs Director General of GST Intelligence And 2 Others (Allahabad High Court)
The Allahabad High Court allowed a habeas corpus petition challenging the arrest, detention, and remand of the petitioner under Sections 132(1)(a), 132(1)(f), and 132(1)(i) of the CGST Act, 2017.
The petitioner contended that the arrest was illegal because the arrest memo did not contain specific grounds of arrest, nor were the grounds supplied as an annexure, allegedly violating Circular No. 02/2022-2023 issued by the CGST Department. It was also argued that the arrest memo merely stated that the grounds of arrest had been explained to the petitioner without recording that they had been supplied. Further, certain columns of the jama talashi form were left blank despite the petitioner’s signatures being obtained. The petitioner also challenged the remand order on the ground that these deficiencies were ignored by the Remand Magistrate.
The respondents filed a counter affidavit but failed to rebut the petitioner’s submissions with supporting material or documents.
Upon examining the arrest memo, the High Court found that it did not disclose the place of arrest, which was contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal. The Court further noted that the grounds of arrest dated 10.12.2025 did not bear a CBIC Document Identification Number (DIN). Although the petitioner had endorsed receipt of the arrest memo and grounds of arrest and had informed a friend about his arrest, the respondents did not dispute the petitioner’s contention that, under Circular No. 2/2022-2023 dated 11.03.2025, every document was required to bear a CBIC-DIN.
