Navinder Singh Sahdev Vs Directorate General of GST Intelligence (Punjab And Haryana High Court)
Summary: The Punjab and Haryana High Court considered two first petitions for regular bail under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 arising from FIR No. Int/Intl/414/2026-Group D dated 01.05.2026, registered by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Chandigarh, for alleged offences under Sections 132(1)(A) read with 132(5) of the CGST Act, 2017 and Section 20(XV) of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, punishable under Section 132(1)(I) of the Act. The prosecution alleged that Navinder Singh Sahdev and Manish Kumar Aggarwal were central figures in a large-scale, organized and multi-layered online money-gaming arrangement involving real-money games such as Teen Patti and Rummy.
According to the case set up by DGGI, the network used sham or dummy companies, payment gateways and bank accounts to suppress actual taxable receipts and evade GST. Manish Kumar Aggarwal was alleged to be the CEO of M/s. Dhanik Traders (OPC) Private Limited, described as the central nodal payment hub through which hundreds of crores were routed, while Navinder Singh Sahdev was alleged to be its Director and the Proprietor of M/s Vansh Enterprises. The firms allegedly declared only commission receipts in GST returns instead of actual gaming receipts, and the alleged GST evasion was approximately Rs. 156 crores. The petitioners argued that the case rested on documents already seized, that WhatsApp chats and disclosure statements of co-accused had weak evidentiary value, that the evidence was largely digital and documentary, and that investigation had concluded.
