Accommodation entries through shell companies – Bail granted on the basis of period of incarceration & delay in investigation

Raman Bhuraria Vs Directorate of Enforcement (Delhi High Court)

Delhi High Court held that the applicant is established to be a mastermind of the whole operation only on the basis of statements under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Also, period of incarceration and delay in investigation justifies a prima facie release of applicant on bail.

Facts- On 31.12.2020, the CBI registered a FIR bearing No. RC0742020E0014 against M/s Shakti Bhog Foods Ltd. (hereinafter called as SBFL) and Mr. Kewal Krishan Kumar, Director/ Promoter of M/s SBFL under Section 120B read with Section 420/ 467/ 468/ 471 and 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter called as PC Act).

The FIR was registered based on a written complaint dated 11.06.2020 lodged by the State Bank of India (SBI). The allegations in the FIR pertain to financial irregularity and siphoning of funds in relation to credit facilities obtained by SBFL from a consortium of banks led by the SBI and thereby causing a loss of Rs. 3269.42 crores.

The applicant was an internal auditor of the SBFL for the financial year 2008-09 till 2013-14, and a statutory auditor of SBFL for the financial year 2006-07.

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