Kamalpreet Singh Vs State (Directorate General of GST Intelligence) (Punjab And Haryana High Court)
The Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed a petition seeking regular bail in a case registered under Sections 132(1)(b) and 132(1)(c) read with Section 132(5) of the CGST Act, 2017 and Section 20(XV) of the IGST Act, 2017. The petitioner had approached the High Court after the Additional Sessions Judge, Panchkula rejected his bail application.
According to the prosecution, searches were conducted on 11.09.2025 at the petitioner’s residence and the registered addresses of nine firms allegedly operated by him. During the searches, various electronic devices, storage media, bank documents, cheque books, notebooks, and other records were seized. The investigating agency alleged that the petitioner operated multiple bogus firms, fraudulently availed ineligible Input Tax Credit (ITC) amounting to ₹71.35 crore and passed on ineligible ITC of ₹72.77 crore. The petitioner was arrested on 11.09.2025.
The petitioner denied the allegations and contended that he had been falsely implicated. He submitted that he merely worked as an accountant or consultant for the concerned firms and neither owned nor controlled them. According to him, his role was limited to maintaining accounts and filing GST returns on the instructions of the firms’ operators. He asserted that he was neither a director, partner nor shareholder of any of the entities and had derived no personal monetary benefit. He also contended that the offences under Section 132 of the CGST Act are compoundable, that his arrest under Section 69 of the Act was illegal because the grounds of arrest were not supplied to him in writing, and that the prosecution relied mainly on documentary and electronic evidence already in the department’s possession. He further submitted that the investigation was substantially complete, the complaint had been filed, and the matter was awaiting trial.
