Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:89413 Court No. - 78 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 4431 of 2025 Applicant :- Shahnawaz Rana Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Namit Srivastava Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Singh,J. 1. Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned Additional Government Advocate representing the State and learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Department of Commercial Taxes U.P. 2. The instant bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant with a prayer to release him on bail in Case Crime No. 363 of 2024, under Sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471, 120B of I.P.C., Police Station Civil Lines, District Muzaffarnagar, during the pendency of trial. 3. As per the prosecution case, in brief, complainant Pradumna Chaudhary, Assistant Commissioner, State G.S.T., Muzaffarnagar got a first information report lodged on 08.12.2024 for the alleged offence under Sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B I.P.C. against M/s Jambudwip Exports and Imports Limited, Company Director Kamran Rana, Company Director Shah Azam Rana, Director Ziya Abbas Zaidi and Director Tauseef Qureshi with regard to non payment of arrears of GST of Rs. 27,02,47,588/- relating to financial year 2018-19. 4. The submissions of learned counsel for the applicant are as under:- i. F.I.R. dated 08.12.2024 has been lodged in respect of Input Tax Credit of the Financial Year 2018-19 against M/s Jambudwip Exports and Imports Limited and its Directors, namely, Kamran Rana, Shah Azam Rana, Ziya Abbas Zaidi and Tauseef Qureshi, who have preferred Criminal Misc. Writ Petition No. 1219 of 2025, in which their arrest has been stayed by the Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 22.01.2025 and investigation against them is still pending. ii. applicant is not named in the F.I.R, which was lodged after delay of five years. iii. Earlier Rana Agricultural Limited was incorporated on 04.09.2002, in which applicant was Director but he had resigned from the post of Director on 01.01.2012., which was accepted vide Resolution No. 6 of Board of Directors and the same was duly notified under the Provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. M/s Jambudwip Exports and Imports Limited came in existence on 21.08.2012, therefore, there was no occasion to the applicant to be Director of M/s Jambudwip Exports and Imports Limited. iv. F.I.R. has been lodged with regard to liability of tax in Financial Year 2018-19, whereas applicant is being implicated in the present case with regard to alleged financial irregularities for the period from 2007 to 2010. v. No notice by the Income Tax Department or GST Authorities regarding alleged tax evasion for the Financial Years 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008- 2009 has been issued to the applicant. vi. The applicant has also not received any notice by Serious Fraud Investigation Office under the Provisions of Companies Act. The applicant has no concern with M/s Jambudwip Exports and Imports Limited. vii. The applicant has been falsely implicated due to political reasons. viii. It is pointed out that the applicant has criminal history of 21 cases, out of which in six cases applicant has been acquitted by the trial court, in two cases criminal proceedings have been quashed, in four cases applicant is on bail, in three cases closure report has been submitted, in one case criminal proceedings have been dropped, in one case applicant is not named in the F.I.R. and charge sheet, one case was registered for non cognizable offence, in one case proceedings have been stayed by this Court and the proceedings of two cases are pending before the trial court, which have been explained in paragraph No. 69 of the affidavit and paragraph No. 3 of supplementary affidavit dated 03.03.2025 filed in support of the bail application. ix. Much emphasis has been given by contending that applicant was in jail in Case Crime No. 357 of 2024, in which has was granted bail by the trial court vide order dated 16.12.2024. As soon as the Investigating Officer came to know about the said bail order, he has implicated the applicant on 16.12.2024 attributing the role of criminal conspiracy against him and arrest warrant was served upon him on 17.12.2024 while he was in jail. x. Charge sheet has been illegally submitted against the applicant on 02.03.3025, whereas till date, no charge sheet has been submitted against named accused persons. xi. Lastly, it is submitted by learned counsel for the applicant that there is no chance of the applicant of fleeing away from the judicial process or tampering with the prosecution evidence. The applicant is languishing in jail since 17.12.2024 and in case he is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail and will cooperate in the early disposal of the trial. 5. Per contra, learned Additional Government Advocate for the State as well as learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Department of Commercial Taxes U.P. opposed the prayer for bail of the applicant by contending that the complicity of the applicant came into light on 12.12.2024 in C.D. No. 3. It is wrong to say that first time name of the applicant was inducted in this case on 16.12.2024 after granting bail in Case Crime No. 357 of 2024. It is also pointed out that on going through the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, it was found that applicant had worked in about 25-30 companies as Director and at the place of registration of company /firm, no firm was found in existence since 2002, hence the applicant has been implicated in the present case. 6. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and examined the matter in its entirety, I find that it is not in dispute that applicant is not named in the F.I.R. which was lodged with regard to non payment of taxes by M/s Jambudwip Exports and Imports Limited for the Financial Year 2018-19 and during this period applicant was not holding any post in the said company. Even applicant has no tax liability. It is also not in dispute that applicant had resigned from the Directorship of Rana Agricultural Ltd. on 01.01.2012, which has been duly accepted by the Board of Directors of the said company. The case of present applicant is distinguishable from the case of named accused and stands on different footing. Since the charge sheet has been submitted against the applicant hence there is no chance of tampering the evidence by the applicant. 7. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case as well as keeping in view the nature of the offence, evidence, complicity of the accused and submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail. Hence, without expressing any opinion on the merit of the case, the bail application is hereby allowed. 8. Let the applicant-Shahnawaz Rana, be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions: (i) That the applicant shall cooperate with the expeditious disposal of the trial and shall regularly attend the court unless inevitable. (ii) That the applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence. (iii) That after his release, the applicant shall not involve in any criminal activity. (iv) The identity, status and residential proof of sureties will be verified by court concerned before the release of the applicant on bail. 9. In case of breach of any of the conditions mentioned above, court concerned will be at liberty to cancel the bail of the applicant. 10. It is made clear that the observations contained in the instant order are confined to the issue of bail only and shall not affect the merit of the trial. 11. It is made clear that since the case of the applicant is distinguishable from the case of named accused, therefore, parity of this order shall not be extended to the named accused of this case. Order Date :- 26.5.2025 Kashifa Digitally signed by :- KASHIFA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad