Sarthak Jain Vs Senior Intelligence Officer (Punjab and Haryana High Court)
Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted regular bail to Sarthak Jain, proprietor of M/s Sarthak Enterprises and an individual linked to M/s Disha Enterprises and M/s Kashibhi Accessories Point. Jain was arrested on February 22, 2025, in connection with a complaint alleging fraudulent availment and passing on of fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) totaling approximately Rs. 8.36 crores through fake GST invoices worth nearly Rs. 98.81 crores. The charges against him fall under Sections 132(1)(b) and 132(1)(c) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017, and the Punjab GST Act, 2017.
According to the complaint filed by the Senior Intelligence Officer, intelligence gathered using data analytics tools indicated that Jain was the key person operating these three firms. It was alleged that he fraudulently availed, utilized, and passed on ITC without any physical receipt of goods from 38 non-existent firms whose GST registrations were suo-moto cancelled. Following searches conducted under Section 67(2) of the CGST Act on February 21, 2024, incriminating documents and electronic devices were reportedly recovered. Jain’s bail application was initially rejected by the Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, on May 6, 2025, leading him to approach the High Court.
