Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Ipc vs In Re : Manmeet Kaur on 15 January, 2024
15.01.2024
tkm/ct 28 C.R.M. (DB) 4786 of 2023
sl no. 52
In Re : An application for bail under section 439 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure in connection with Hare Street PS case no. 70/2023 dated
10.3.2023 under sections 120B/420/465/467/468/471/474/475/477A
IPC
and
In Re : Manmeet Kaur ........ petitioner
Mr. Sekhar Basu, Sr. Adv
Mr. Anirudha Mitra
Md. Saddam Hossain
...... for the petitioner
Mr. Debasis Roy, ld PP
Mr. R D Nandi
Mr. Rafiqul Islam
...... for the State
Mr. Arun Kr. Maiti (Mohanti)
Mr. Manabendra Nath Bandyopadhyay
...... for UOI
Mr. Dhiraj Trivedi, ld ASGI
Mr. Arijit Chakraborti
Mr. Deepak Sharma
...... for the ED
1.Petitioner is in custody for 200 days. It is submitted she is an accountant of M/s. Servinity Technologies OPC Pvt. ltd. Co- accused who are similarly circumstanced with the petitioner have been enlarged on bail. She prays for bail.
2. Learned lawyer for the State submits on the basis of forged documents, 11 accounts were opened in Dalhousie Branch of J&K bank. Large volume of monies were deposited there and illegally remitted to offshore entities.
3. In light of the nature of accusation we called upon the Enforcement Directorate to apprise us of the investigation undertaken by them in the matter.
2
4. Learned lawyer for the Enforcement Directorate submits report.
5. From the report it appears on the strength of fake bills of lading, large volume of foreign remittances were made through the fake accounts. Petitioner is involved in the business of one of the concerns namely 'Servinity Technologies OPC Pvt. Ltd.' which had fraudulently opened accounts on the strength of forged documents. Involvement of the petitioner in the illegal transactions is evident from the facts of the case.
6. We have considered the materials on record. Investigation has revealed an intricate web through which monies were siphoned through the fake accounts and remitted abroad. Petitioner caused one Prem Sagar, a co-accused to open a firm namely M/s. Bluo Logistic. Large funds were deposited by the said concern into the forged accounts which were subsequently siphoned away. Further investigation is necessary to unravel the purpose of such remittances to offshore entities.
7. It is contended co-accused have been enlarged on bail by the Magistrate. We note though bail prayer of the petitioner has been rejected by the sessions judge, the learned magistrate proceeded to release co-accused on bail without taking into consideration the gravity and seriousness of the crime which had far reaching transborder implications. Hence we are not inclined to enlarge the petitioner on bail on the ground that co- accused have been enlarged on bail.
8. Accordingly, the prayer for bail is rejected. 3
9. We have noted of the fact that in a grave offence involving transborder implications where PMLA proceedings have been initiated, learned magistrate without adverting to the gravity and seriousness of the offence mechanically granted bail to co- accused namely Rajnish Bain, Sandip Das @ Sourav Mandal, Ajit Kumar Rana, Prem Sagar, Amit Jain and Wilfred John Vincent Paul Naidu vide order dated 7.10.2023.
10. Hence, we issue a suo motu rule calling upon the co- accused Rajnish Bain, Sandip Das @ Sourav Mandal, Ajit Kumar Rana, Prem Sagar, Amit Jain and Wilfred John Vincent Paul Naidu to show cause why order dated 7.10.2023 granting bail to them shall not be cancelled.
(Partha Sarathi Sen, J.) (Joymalya Bagchi, J.)