Bail Application — Section 132 of the CGST Act --- The petitioners sought grant of regular bail in respect of a case under Section 132(1)(b)(c) of the Act. It is alleged that the petitioner created firms to issue fake invoices with the intention of availing fraudulent ITC and from GSTR-3B, it was found that ITC of Rs.68,42,30,780/- had been paid fraudulently on the basis of fake invoices. The petitioner relied upon a decision of the Division Bench of this Court in Akhil Krishan Maggu and another Vs. Deputy Director, DGGSTI decided on 15.11.2019. It is further pointed out that the maximum sentence in the present case is 5 years and the petitioner has been in custody for the last 16 months and the challan has since been presented.
Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court accepted the petition on the ground that keeping in view the custody period and also that the maximum sentence provided for the offence in question is 5 years.—Vikas Goel Vs. Shankar Prasad Sarma, Deputy Director [2020] 20 TAXLOK.COM 166 (P&H)