Allahabad High Court
Gaurav Garg vs C.B.I on 6 February, 2023
Author: Dinesh Kumar Singh
Bench: Dinesh Kumar Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 87 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 1259 of 2023 Applicant :- Gaurav Garg Opposite Party :- C.B.I Counsel for Applicant :- Satya Prakash Pandey,Ved Prakash Pandey Counsel for Opposite Party :- Sanjay Kumar Yadav Hon'ble Dinesh Kumar Singh,J.
1. Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
2. This application under Section 438 Cr.P.C. has been filed by the accused-applicant for seeking bail in anticipation of his arrest in Special Case No. 07 of 2022 RC No. 219 of 2019 E004 under Sections120B R/w 420, 468, 471 IPC and Section 13(2) read with Section 13 (1) (d) of PC Act, 1988 and substantive offence thereof PS-CBI, EO-1 New Delhi, during pendency of the investigation.
3. The facts, in brief, are that M/s H.K. Enterprises is a partnership firm and it has two partners, Harmesh Kumar and Ravindra Ahlawat. A case was registered on 10.6.2019 on the basis of a complaint dated 15.1.2019 of Sri Pawan Kumar Gaur, AGM/Regional Head, Union Bank of India (UBI), Regional Office, Meerut, U.P. alleging that borrowers and guarantors i.e. M/s H.K. Enterprises and its partners during the period of September, 2017 entered into a criminal conspiracy and in pursuance thereof, they submitted false/forged documents along with the loan application. On the basis of these documents, a Cash Credit Limit of Rs.20 Crores was sanctioned to M/s H.K. Enterprises on 24.10.2017 by Union Bank of India, Regional Office, Meerut on the recommendations of the Union Bank of India, Mid Corporate Branch, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad.
4. The propose for which the loan/Cash Credit Limit was sanctioned, was for wholesale trading/supplying of building materials such Bricks, Cement, Steel, Rodi, Marble, Tiles and Wood, including plywoods, woodboard and hardboard etc. Subsequently, two temporary overdrafts for Rs.64 Lakhs were also sanctioned.
5. It is alleged that the loan amounts in pursuance of criminal conspiracy were diverted by the borrowers for purposes other than for which the loan was sanctioned and the same were fraudulently siphoned off within one month from the first disbursement on 30.10.2017, through the accounts of their associated concerns/related parties/their own current accounts. The loan account became irregular from December, 2017 to March, 2018 and turned into "NPA" within six months, resulting in wrongful loss to the bank to the tune of Rs.20.60 Crores. Further, the said account was also declared as fraud on 9.8.2018. The wrongful loss along with interest caused to the bank was Rs.21.87 Crores.
6. While sanctioning the loan to M/s H.K. Enterprises, the sanctioning authority had considered another firm M/s S.M. Enterprises, Proprietorship of Bharat Kalra, S/o Harmesh Kumar as a group concerned of M/s H.K. Enterprises. Both the firms had shown their business of the same nature i.e. trading of building materials/construction materials and their office addresses were also the same. M/s S.M. Enterprises was already sanctioned a Cash Credit Limit of Rs.16 Cores by the same bank in March, 2017 and it was also sanctioned an ad-hoc limit of Rs.4 Crores on 7.10.2017 despite the fact that there was very poor turnover in its account and had already siphoned off its entire loan. The said fact could get established on the basis of its stock statement and statement of the loan account.
7. The accused-applicant, Gaurav Garg, is the proprietor of M/s Mrishna Jute Bag Co. and a sum of Rs. 7,87,97,100/- was diverted into the account of M/s Krishna Juge Bag Co. from the loan account of borrower.
8. From the above transaction the C.B.I. in its investigation report has said that it is established that first layer diversion of the substantial loan amount of Rs. 7,87,97,100/- was made through the account of M/s Krishna Jute Bag Co., and out of said amount, Rs. 7,68,57,200/- was received back in the loan account of M/s H.K. Enterprises and by the borrower Harmesh Kumar (A-1) in the accounts of M/s S.M. Enterprises, M/s Nitya Enterprises and M/s Palak Enterprises, through the account of M/s Blue Horse Overseas. For the remaining amount of Rs. 19,39,900/- (7,87,97,100 - 7,68,57,299), as per the statement of account, Shri Gaurav Garg is not able to explain that he returned the same to the borrowers (A-1 and A-2) or in the account of M/s H K Enterprises. Sh. Gaurav Garg could not provide any invoices/supporting documents for business of construction materials. Thus, it is established that Rs. 7,87,97,100/- was not utilized for business purposes for which the loan was granted to the borrower, but was rotated through various accounts. Therefore, Shri Gaurav Garg was found involved in siphoning off the loan amount. Moreover, he had dishonestly tried to justify the transactions with the instant loan account by filing GST Returns. Hence, there is sufficient evidence against him to establish that he was part of conspiracy in diversion and siphoning off of the loan amount.
9. The present accused-applicant is a perpetrator of M/s Krishna Joot Bag Company and a sum of Rs. 7,87,97,100/- was diverted into the account of M/s Krishna Joot Bag Company from the loan account of borrower from the said transaction of Rs. 7,87,97,100/-, Rs. 7,68,57,200/- was received in the account of M/s H.K. Enterprises and by the borrower Harmesh Kumar in the account of M/s S.M. Enterprises, M/s Nitya Enterprises and M/s Blue Horse Overseas. Remaining amount of Rs. 19,39,900/- was used by the present accused-applicant could not provide any invoice/supporting document for business of construction materials. The accused applicant was fully involved in siphoning of the loan amount of rupees more than 20 crores. The anticipatory bail applications of the co-accused have been dismissed by this Court vide the detailed judgment and order dated 9th January, 2023 passed in Crl. Misc. Anticipatory Bail Application under Section 438 Cr.P.C. No. 4367 of 2022 and another connected bail anticipatory bail application.
10. From perusal of the charge-sheet it is evident that the accused-applicant was involved in diverting large share of the loan amount which was granted to co-accused Harmesh Kumar.
11. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the allegation that the accused-applicant in criminal conspiracy with each other and the bank official was part of the siphoning of the loan amount by submitting the forged and fabricated papers and misleading the bank and also the fact that they siphoned of the said within six months from its sanction, this Court is of the view that the accused applicant is not entitled for grant of anticipatory bail. This the bail application is hereby rejected.
Order Date :- 6.2.2023 Kumar Manish.