Sandeep Singhal Vs Directorate General of GST Intelligence (Rajasthan High Court)
Summary: The Rajasthan High Court allowed the regular bail application filed by Sandeep Singhal under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with proceedings initiated by the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence, Jaipur Zonal Unit, for alleged offences under Section 132(1)(c) and (f), read with Section 132(5) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The Revenue alleged that the applicant was involved in tax evasion amounting to approximately ₹11 crore and opposed bail on the ground that white-collar financial offences adversely affect the country’s financial health. The applicant maintained that he had been wrongly implicated, had no criminal antecedents and was the primary breadwinner of his family. His counsel submitted that the alleged offence was triable by a Magistrate under Section 134 of the CGST/RGST Act, the charge-sheet had already been filed and the offence was compoundable. It was further argued that the prosecution witnesses were government officials and therefore unlikely to be influenced by the applicant. Reliance was also placed on the fact that a co-accused had been granted bail on 13 April 2022 in S.B. CRLMB No. 3399/2022. The applicant cited Ratnambar Kaushik Vs Union of India and Lakshya Agarwal Vs DGGI Jaipur Zonal Unit, while the Revenue relied on Tarun Kumar Vs Assistant Director, ED and Manish Sisodia Vs CBI to oppose the application.
