Prabhat Ashokkumar Chhogalal Maheshwari Vs State of Gujarat (Gujarat High Court)
Summary: The Gujarat High Court granted regular bail to Prabhat Ashokkumar Chhogalal Maheshwari in an FIR alleging forgery and misuse of E-way Bills involving Sections 316(2), 318(4), 336(2), 338 and 340(2) of the BNS and Sections 66-C and 66-D of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The application was filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. The allegation was that, between September 2018 and June 2025, the applicant used the complainant’s name and password and forged E-way Bills amounting to ₹1,60,11,837, resulting in alleged GST liability of ₹24,42,484 along with three times penalty. The Court noted that the case was primarily based on documentary evidence.
The High Court considered that a substantial part of the investigation was over, none of the alleged offences was punishable with life imprisonment or death, the applicant had been in custody since 20 August 2026, nothing remained to be recovered or discovered from him, he had no past antecedent and the offences were triable by the JMFC Court. It also noted that commencement and conclusion of the trial would take time.
The applicant’s brother had filed an undertaking that ₹29,30,000 would be deposited before the trial Court within one month of the applicant’s release and that any further amount subsequently shown to have come into the applicant’s account from or in connection with M/s. Crown Incorporation would also be deposited. The Court required the applicant to abide by this undertaking and to file a similar undertaking after his release.
