Himachal Pradesh High Court
Sunil Kumar vs State Of Himachal Pradesh on 18 July, 2025
Author: Sushil Kukreja
Bench: Sushil Kukreja
Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA .
Cr.MP(M) No. 1381 of 2025 Reserved on: 04.07.2025 Decided on: 18.07.2025 Sunil Kumar ....Petitioner Versus State of Himachal Pradesh ...Respondent Coram Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sushil Kukreja, Judge Whether approved for reporting?1 For the petitioner: Mr. Rajinder Thakur and Mr. Ankit Chandel, Advocates.
For the respondent: Mr. I.N.Mehta, Senior Additional Advocate General with Mr. Pawan Kumar Nadda, Additional Advocate General and Mr.Ankush Thakur, Deputy Advocate General.
____________________________________________________ Sushil Kukreja, Judge The instant bail application has been filed by the petitioner under Section 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (for short BNSS) for releasing him on bail in case FIR No.120 of 2023, dated 24.09.2023, under Sections 420 and 120B of Indian Penal Code (for short IPC), read with Section 5 of the HP Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, 1999 and Sections 21 and 23 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019, registered at Police Station Palampur, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.
1Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
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2. Brief facts of the case, as per the prosecution story, are that on the basis of written complaint made by one Shri Arun Singh .
Guleria (complainant) on 24.09.2023, a case was registered at Police Station Palampur, District Kangra, HP. It was alleged in the said complaint that on the advice of one Subhash Sharma, resident of Mandi, H.P., he alongwith others had invested in a website, i.e., www.voscrow.io, which was owned by said Subhash Sharma alongwith one Milan Garg of Meerut, U.P. In lieu of their investments, virtual currency was provided through the website. Said Subhash Sharma alongwith promoters Sukh Dev Thakur and Abhishek Sharma, residents of Mandi and Una, respectively, allegedly cheated the general public through websites, like Voscrow and Hypenext.
During the period between 2019-2020, the aforesaid persons promised the individuals to double their money and such promises continued till 2021 and during that period, some individuals received distributions of funds against their investments, which led to increase in the investments, resultantly many people invested. On 25.12.2021, the allocations were halted by Subhash Sharma and later on, he assured that the allocations would resume soon. Subsequently, Subhash Sharma tied-up with Hypenext, which was owned by Milan Garg and on being persuaded, the people invested/ reinvested in Hypenext again and they also received partial funds against their investments, which practice continued till 2022. Thereafter, due to ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 3 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) technical issues, the company requested five months' time for payment and qua which, through a video, both Subhash Sharma and .
Milan Garg informed the entire community. In total, the amount involved was Rs.18 Crores and they acknowledged and promised to activate new IDs on 8th August, 2023 at Aglobal.io, however, neither his (complainant) community, nor he received any money. Hence, it is alleged that Subhash Sharma, Hemraj, Milan Garg, Sukhdev Thakur and Abhishek Sharma defrauded the people by creating fake website and it was a well-planned conspiracy.
3. As per the FIR, the accused persons were involved in fraudulent activities related to crypto-currency and they enticed the people to invest substantial amount(s), promising high returns, which resulted in a collective loss of Rs.18 crores to the complainant and his associates. On 26.09.2023 a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted, which was headed by DIG of Northern Range, Dharamshala, for investigating various crypto-currency related fraud cases across the State. It was unearthed that the modus operandi of the alleged fraud involved alluring individuals with promise of high returns on crypto-currency investments, creating a network of investors, who recruited others, manipulating crypto-currency prices and ultimately causing financial loss to the victims. It was further unearthed that the accused persons used a combination of ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 4 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) misinformation, deception and threats to maintain control over their scheme and continued extracting money from unsuspecting investors.
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4. During the course of investigation, it has come on record that in the year 2018, accused Subhash Sharma and his associates had initiated a coordinated campaign of public inducement through seminars, wherein they introduced the concept of digital currencies, particularly Bitcoin and gradually diverted attention towards their own crypto-currency scheme under the name Korvio Community.
Subsequent to the launch of Korvio platform, the accused persons, namely Subhash Sharma, Hemraj, Sukhdev Thakur and others, initiated a widespread network-driven promotion campaign by motivating individuals to invest and further recruit others under a binary referral scheme and new investors were registered through unique IDs requiring KRO Coins, which were either procured directly from the top-line promoters or converted from BTC. In the year 2021, amidst rising public complaints, the accused re-branded the platform from Korvio to Voscrow and thereafter to DGT Coin under a newly created domain dgtswap. com, citing a shift from a private to a public block-chain, due to regulatory pressure. After the fraudulent activities under the banner of Korvio and DGT Coin, accused Subhash Sharma organized a large community meeting in August, 2021 at Radisson Hotel, Zirakpur, attended by approximately 300 to 500 individuals, each of whom was charged Rs.2,000/- as an entry fee. In the said ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 5 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) event, accused Subhash Sharma and co-accused Milan Garg were the primary speakers and accused Milan Garg explained that DGT .
Coin would now be swapped with BNB (Binance Coin), and that DGT would soon be listed on crypto-currency exchanges, thereby giving a false impression of legitimacy and luring the participants with promises of high returns.
5. The investigation further revealed that through the successive roll-out of these fraudulent platforms Korvio, DGT, Hypenext, Bitpaid Pro and Aglobal, the accused persons created and controlled a custom-built MLM software designed to manipulate token prices, fabricate digital coin values and systematically misled the public. The said software facilitated registration of over 2.48 lakh individuals and the accused persons collectively defrauded the public to the tune of Rs.2,300 Crores, through fake crypto-currencies and private MLM tokens, operating entirely outside any lawful regulatory framework. On 02.10.2023, search operations were conducted at the residential premises of accused persons Hem Raj and Sukhdev Thakur, pursuant to which, both these accused persons were arrested and on their disclosure statements, substantial recoveries were effected and multiple crypto-currency wallets belonging to these accused persons were identified, which contained various virtual coins suspected to be proceeds of crime. In order to secure these digital assets, the official correspondence was initiated with Binance ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 6 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) Exchange. Upon successful liaison, a secured custodial crypto wallet was created by the investigating team and thereafter, the seized .
digital assets were transferred to the aforesaid secured wallet.
Forensic examination of the mobile phones of accused persons further led to recovery of incriminating WhatsApp chats and communications, which directly pertained to the planning, coordination and execution of the fraudulent crypto currency-based scheme. The investigation also revealed that this case was the first and largest of its kind in the State of Himachal Pradesh, involving an unprecedented estimated investment of over Rs.2,000/- crores from more than 80,000 victims and an assessed actual financial loss of Rs.500 crores.
6. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the petitioner is innocent and a false case has been foisted against him.
He further contended that during investigation of the case, when police raided the house of the petitioner, nothing concrete was recovered. He also contended that the name of the petitioner is not there in the FIR and it was only an afterthought of the investigating agency to seize the joint account, life insurance policies of the petitioner alongwith his wife and son. Further contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that infact the petitioner has nothing to do with the FIR and he has been falsely roped in the alleged offence.
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7. Conversely, the learned Senior Additional Advocate General contended that the substantial gains, which were acquired by .
the petitioner and other accused persons i.e., Subhash Sharma Hemraj, Sukhdev, Abhishek Sharma and Milan Garg etc., through the fraudulent scheme of crypto-currency, were invested in acquiring the valuable assets, i.e., movable and immovable properties at different places. He further contended that the instant is a case of huge economic offence and the investigation reveals the involvement of the petitioner in the alleged offence. He also contended that in case the petitioner is enlarged on bail at this stage, he may flee from justice or even tamper with the prosecution evidence, therefore, the instant bail application, which is devoid of merits, may be dismissed.
8. I have given my considered thought to the rival contentions raised and also gone through the police file as well as the status report(s) filed by the prosecution.
9. No doubt at the stage of granting bail, detailed examination of evidence and elaborate discussions on merits of the case need not be taken but the order must reflect the reasons for arriving at a, prima facie, conclusion as to why bail is being granted or refused, particularly when the accused-petitioner is charged with the commission of economic offences.
10. In the case on hand, as per the material available on record, it was unearthed that the data extracted from the backend of ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 8 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) Korvio MLM platform contained a document titled "Top 100 Payout List" and the petitioner figured prominently at Sr. No.8, identified as .
"DIAMOND SUNIL", with total earnings amounting to Rs.10,46,767.52 and his name appeared immediately below accused Abhishek Sharma, who was listed under the ID "Shree Arambh", with the recorded earnings of Rs.13,42,492.78 and the petitioner occupied a senior and influential role in the Korvio MLM structure and he was working directly under top conspirators. The aforesaid list represented the top binary earners out of a total of approximately 2.48 lakh investors enrolled in the Korvio platform, thereby firmly established that the petitioner was not only a high-ranking promoter, but also was a significant beneficiary of the illicit proceeds, generated through this fraudulent multi-level marketing scheme.
11. The investigation further revealed that a liability list was recovered from the possession of accused Abhishek Sharma, containing the names and corresponding financial liabilities of key individuals involved in the Korvio MLM scheme, wherein the petitioner was shown with a total liability of Rs.198 Crores, which was the same as that of accused Abhishek Sharma and established the direct role of the petitioner in collecting massive investments from the public and his active participation in the multi-level crypto-based Ponzi scheme.
The document, i.e. "Sunil Sayal Data with Business Team" recovered during investigation revealed that the petitioner used two mobile ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS
9 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) numbers, i.e. 9418000321 and 8219600243, to register and operate multiple user IDs on the Korvio platform, which were created to enroll .
himself multiple times and to earn commissions under the binary multi-level marketing structure.
12. The law relating to bail in a case of economic offences is more or less settled in catena of decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. It would be useful at this point to give a conspectus of the law and the principles for grant of bail in case of economic offences.
Extracts from some of the most relevant and topical judgments on this point are set-out in the paragraphs that follow.
13. In the case of State of Gujrat vs. Mohan Lal Jitamalji Porwal, reported in AIR 1987 SC 1321, it is held as follows:-
"5. xx xx xx The entire community is aggrieved if the economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to book. A murder may be committed in the heat of moment upon passions being aroused. An economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the Community. A disregard for the interest of the community can be manifested only at the cost of forfeiting the trust and faith of the Community in the system to administer justice in an even handed manner without fear of criticism from the quarters which view white colour crimes with a permissive eye unmindful of the damage done to the National Economy and National Interest".
14. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy vs. CBI, (2013) 7 SCC 439 in paras 34 and 35 in respect of granting bail in economic offences having deep rooted conspiracy and large public money involved, has held as under:-
"34. Economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail.
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The economic offences having deep-rooted
conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a .
whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country.
35. While granting bail, the court has to keep in mind the nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in support thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with, the larger interests of the public/State and other similar considerations."
15. In the case of Nimmagadda Prasad vs. CBI, (2013) 7 SCC 466, the Supreme Court has observed that the alarming rise in white collar crimes has affected the fiber of country's economic structure. Economic offences have serious repercussions on the development of the country as a whole. Economic offences constitute a class apart and a different approach has to be adopted in the matter of bail. Para 23 to 25 of the aforesaid judgment are extracted here-in-below:-
"23. Unfortunately, in the last few years, the country has been seeing an alarming rise in white-collar crimes, which has affected the fibre of the country's economic structure. Incontrovertibly, economic offences have serious repercussions on the development of the country as a whole. In State of Gujarat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal [(1987) 2 SCC 364 : 1987 SCC (Cri) 364] this Court, while considering a request of the prosecution for adducing additional evidence, inter alia, observed as under: (SCC p. 371, para 5) "5. ... The entire community is aggrieved if the economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to book. A murder may be committed in the heat of moment upon passions being aroused. An economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the community. A disregard for the interest of the community can be manifested only at the cost of forfeiting the trust and faith of the community in the system to administer justice in an even-handed manner without fear of ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 11 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) criticism from the quarters which view white-collar crimes with a permissive eye unmindful of the damage done to the national economy and national interest."
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24. While granting bail, the court has to keep in mind the nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in support thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with, the larger interests of the public/State and other similar considerations. It has also to be kept in mind that for the purpose of granting bail, the legislature has used the words "reasonable grounds for believing" instead of "the evidence" which means the court dealing with the grant of bail can only satisfy itself as to whether there is a genuine case against the accused and that the prosecution will be able to produce prima facie evidence in support of the charge. It is not expected, at this stage, to have the evidence establishing the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
25. Economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail.
The economic offence having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds needs to be viewed seriously and considered as a grave offence affecting the economy of the country as a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country."
16. In a judgment rendered in the case of State of Bihar Vs. Amit Kumar, (2017) 13 SCC 751, it has been held that while considering the bail involving socio-economic offences stringent parameters should be applied. Paras 8-9 of the said judgment are extracted hereunder:-
""8. A bare reading of the order impugned discloses that the High Court has not given any reasoning while granting bail. In a mechanical way, the High Court granted bail more on the fact that the accused is already in custody for a long time. When the seriousness of the offence is such the mere fact that he was in jail for however long time should not be the concern of the courts. We are not able to appreciate such a casual approach while granting bail in a case which has the effect of undermining the trust of people in the integrity of the education system in the State of Bihar.::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS
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9. We are conscious of the fact that the accused is charged with economic offences of huge magnitude and is alleged to be the kingpin/ringleader. Further, it is alleged that the respondent-accused is involved in .
tampering with the answer sheets by illegal means and interfering with the examination system of Bihar Intermediate Examination, 2016 and thereby securing top ranks, for his daughter and other students of Vishnu Rai College, in the said examination. During the investigation when a search team raided his place, various documents relating to property and land to the tune of Rs 2.57 crores were recovered besides Rs 20 lakhs in cash. In addition to this, allegedly a large number of written answer sheets of various students, letterheads and rubber stamps of several authorities, admit cards, illegal firearm, etc. were found which Page No.# 7/10 establishes a prima facie case against the respondent. The allegations against the respondent are very serious in nature, which are reflected from the excerpts of the case diary. We are also conscious of the fact that the offences alleged, if proved, may jeopardise the credibility of the education system of the State of Bihar."
17. In a recent decision in Tarun Kumar Vs. Assistant Director Directorate of Enforcement, reported in 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1486, it has been held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court as under:-
"22. Lastly, it may be noted that as held in catena of decisions, the economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. The economic offences having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country. Undoubtedly, economic offences have serious repercussions on the development of the country as a whole. To cite a few judgments in this regard are Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v. Central Bureau of Investigation, Nimmagadda Prasad v. Central Bureau of Investigation, Gautam Kundu v. Directorate of Enforcement (supra), State of Bihar v. Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai. This court taking a serious note with regard to the economic offences had observed as back as in 1987 in case of State of Gujarat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal as under:--
"5... The entire community is aggrieved if the economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to books. A murder may be committed in the heat of moment upon ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 13 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) passions being aroused. An economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the .
community. A disregard for the interest of the community can be manifested only at the cost of forfeiting the trust and faith of the community in the system to administer justice in an even- handed manner without fear of criticism from the quarters which view white collar crimes with a permissive eye unmindful of the damage done to the National Economy and National Interest..."
18. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in case titled as P. Chidambaram vs. Directorate of Enforcement, (2019) 9 SCC 24, while dealing with economic offences, has held that the power of granting anticipatory bail should be sparingly exercised in economic offences. The relevant extract of this judgment is reproduced as under:-
"77. After referring to Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre and other judgments and observing that anticipatory bail can be granted only in exceptional circumstances, in Jai Prakash Singh v. State of Bihar, the Supreme Court held as under: (SCC p.386, para 19)
"19. Parameters for grant of anticipatory bail in a serious offence are required to be satisfied and further while granting such relief, the court must record the reasons therefor. Anticipatory bail can be granted only in exceptional circumstances where the court is prima facie of the view that the applicant has falsely been enroped in the crime and would not misuse his liberty.
78. Power under Section 438 CrPC being an extraordinary remedy, has to be exercised sparingly; more so, in cases of economic offences. Economic offences stand as a different class as they affect the economic fabric of the society. In Directorate of Enforcement v. Ashok Kumar Jain ((1998) 2 SCC 105), it was held that in economic offences, the accused is not entitled to anticipatory bail.
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83. Grant of anticipatory bail at the stage of investigation may frustrate the investigating agency in interrogating the accused and in collecting the useful information ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 14 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) and also the materials which might have been concealed. Success in such interrogation would elude if the accused knows that he is protected by the order of the court. Grant of anticipatory bail, particularly in .
economic offences would definitely hamper the effective investigation. Having regard to the materials said to have been collected by the respondent Enforcement Directorate and considering the stage of the investigation, we are of the view that it is not a fit case to grant anticipatory bail.
84. In a case of money-laundering where it involves many stages of "placement", "layering i.e. funds moved to other institutions to conceal origin" and "interrogation i.e. funds used to acquire various assets", it requires systematic and analysed investigation which would be of great advantage. As held in Anil Sharma, success in such interrogation would elude if the accused knows that he is protected by a pre-arrest bail order. Section 438 CrPC is to be invoked only in exceptional cases where the case alleged is frivolous or groundless. In the case in hand, there are allegations of laundering the proceeds of the crime. The Enforcement Directorate claims to have certain specific inputs from various sources, including overseas banks. Letter rogatory is also said to have been issued and some response have been received by the Department. Having regard to the nature of allegations and the stage of the investigation, in our view, the investigating agency has to be given sufficient freedom in the process of investigation. Though we do not endorse the approach of the learned Single Judge in extracting the note produced by the Enforcement Directorate, we do not find any ground warranting interference with the impugned order. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, in our view, grant of anticipatory bail to the appellant will hamper the investigation and this is not a fit case for exercise of discretion to grant anticipatory bail to the appellant."
19. The aforesaid view was reiterated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Serious Fraud Investigation Officer vs. Nittin Johari and another, (2019) 9 SCC 165, wherein, it set aside the order of High Court of Delhi granting bail to the accused therein and held that:-
24."...it is necessary to advert to the principles governing the grant of bail under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. Specifically, heed must be paid to the stringent view taken by this Court towards grant of bail with respect of economic offences....."::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS
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20. In the instant case, the investigation, prima facie, reveals that the petitioner Sunil Kumar had been leading an active role in .
running and expanding the illegal multi-level marketing network, causing financial harm to a large number of innocent investors and, thus shown to be involved in the economic offences of huge magnitude. The economic offences are considered grave offences as they affect the economy of the country as a whole and such offences having deep rooted conspiracy and involving huge loss of public fund are to be viewed seriously. The economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design solely with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the community. In such type of offences, while granting bail, the Court has to keep in mind, inter alia, the larger interest of public and the State. The nature and seriousness of an economic offence and its impact on the society are always important considerations in such a case and those aspects must squarely be dealt with by the Court while passing an order on bail applications.
21. Further, in connection with the same fraudulent activities, FIR No.253, dated 01.09.2023 was registered against the petitioner at Police Station Zirakpur, District SAS Nagar, Punjab, under Sections 406, 420, 120B of IPC, Sections 4, 5, 12, 18, 76, 76(2) of the Chit Funds Act, 1982 and Sections 21 & 23 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019, wherein he was arrested ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 16 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) on 01.09.2023 and was released on bail by the Hon'ble Supreme Court on 02.04.2025. The said case is also related to the same multi-
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level marketing and crypto-based fraud and shows the involvement of the petitioner in similar offences across different States. The records retrieved from the Korvio platform and associated business data, during the course of investigation, revealed that the petitioner was heading a total team of 1,64,780 members under his network and the total business volume generated under his team was USD 1,55,207,737 (equivalent to more than Rs.1,200 Crores approximately). These figures clearly indicate the massive scale of operations managed by him and the extent of public money involved in the fraudulent scheme. The petitioner was not a minor participant, but held a lead role in running and expanding the illegal multi-level marketing network, causing financial harm to a large number of innocent investors. During the course of investigation, a house search was conducted at the residence of the petitioner on 07.10.2023 and several incriminating materials were recovered, which clearly indicates his active and organized involvement in a fraudulent deposit collection scheme.
22. Therefore, in the opinion of this court, as the petitioner is, prima facie, alleged to be involved in the economic offences of huge magnitude, he cannot claim anticipatory bail as a matter of right. It is a settled law that the provisions for grant of anticipatory bail under ::: Downloaded on - 18/07/2025 21:31:43 :::CIS 17 Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:HHC:23296 ) Section 482 of BNSS are not to be mechanically applied. Nature and gravity of the offence, the position and status of the accused with .
reference to the victim and witnesses, likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice, possibility of the accused tampering with the evidence and larger public interest are some of the considerations which must weigh with the Court while deciding the application for grant of anticipatory bail. Liberty of a citizen is indeed of a paramount importance, but at the same time, fair and fearless investigation of case of a serious nature is of no less importance. The Court shall refrain from exercising its discretion in favour of the accused under Section 482 of BNSS if it adversely affects the investigation and larger public interest. In view of the serious nature of allegations against them, a wall cannot be created between the Investigating Agency and the petitioner. Having regard to the nature of allegations and the stage of the investigation, in my view, the investigating agency has to be given sufficient freedom in the process of investigation. Moreover, at this stage, in case the petitioner is enlarged on bail, he may flee from justice as the main accused Subhash Sharma has absconded and fled to Dubai. Since the petitioner is allegedly involved in the commission of a serious offence, in the opinion of this Court, his custodial interrogation is necessary for the proper investigation of the case.
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23. Hence, in view of the facts and circumstances of the case as the investigation against the petitioner is still in progress, .
grant of anticipatory bail to him is likely to hamper the progress of the investigation therefore, this Court does not find any exceptional ground to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction under Section 482 of BNSS to grant him anticipatory bail, as such, the present anticipatory bail application is dismissed being devoid of merits.
24. Before parting with this order, it is hereby clarified that the aforesaid observations made in this order, have been made only for the purpose of considering the present petition for anticipatory bail. Therefore, the same shall not come in the way of the trial court for considering the application that may be filed by the petitioner for regular bail or at the time of the trial and the trial Court concerned shall not be influenced by any of the observations made hereinabove.
( Sushil Kukreja )
July 18, 2025 Judge
(VH)
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