Chandigarh: ‘Tiffin service provider’ accused of Rs 4 crore tax evasion\, granted pre-arrest bail by HC 

Chandigarh: ‘Tiffin service provider’ accused of Rs 4 crore tax evasion, granted pre-arrest bail by HC 

According to the FIR, the accused obtained GST registration and had taxable transactions of goods to the tune of Rs 20,46,52,098.

Written by Sofi Ahsan | Chandigarh | Published: June 14, 2020 12:29:20 am
Punjab and Haryana High court, Tiffin service provider, pre-arrest bail, tax evasion, Chandigarh news, Indian express news In an order, Justice Arun Monga said the said accused deserves concession of anticipatory bail and asked him to appear before the investigating officer as and when called to do so and cooperate in the investigation. (Representational)

A 24-year-old youth accused of committing tax evasion to the tune of over Rs 4 crore was granted anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The accused, a matriculate and tiffin service provider, who is said to have carried out transactions worth over Rs 20 crore has claimed in defence that it is a case of identity theft.

In December 2019, the Central Sector 17 Police Station in Chandigarh filed a case against accused Abhishek Modgil, a Fatehgarh Sahib resident, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC on a complaint filed by the Excise and Taxation Officer of Chandigarh.

According to the FIR, the accused obtained GST registration and had taxable transactions of goods to the tune of Rs 20,46,52,098. He is alleged to have committed the tax evasion of Rs 4,02,00,136 by generating bogus invoices of sales and purchases. The accused in the FIR is identified as the proprietor of Mahadev Metals, a company trading in iron and steel goods, located at Dariya in Chandigarh. However, the complaint states that no business activity was carried out from the premises.

The counsel representing the accused before the High Court argued that the accused is just 24-year-old and a matriculate. Thus, he is not educated enough to understand or carry out the transactions of such magnitude running into more than Rs 20 crore.

Submitting that the accused has been made a scapegoat, the counsel told the court that his identity documents were misused and a dummy firm was created – leading to the bogus entries meant to evade the payment of taxes. The counsel also submitted that the accused has nothing to do with the transactions and is ready to join the investigation, which is anyway based on documentary evidence already in possession of the police.

In an order, Justice Arun Monga said the said accused deserves concession of anticipatory bail and asked him to appear before the investigating officer as and when called to do so and cooperate in the investigation. “The allegations are that the petitioner forged and fabricated the documents to avoid the tax liability. All the documents are already in possession of the police. Whether the petitioner had any role to play in the entire gamut or he has been made a scapegoat, as alleged, can be ascertained once the petitioner joins the investigation vis-a-vis the documentary evidence already seized,” the order passed by the court on Friday read.

In his anticipatory bail application before the lower court, the accused had earlier submitted that he belongs to a poor family and had left studies due to familial responsibilities and started supplying tiffins to various factories and institutes. He had also argued that the documents given by him to an agent for taking loan were forged and fabricated. The lower court had dismissed his anticipatory bail on January 4.