Anirudh Prasad Tiwari vs State Of HP

,,,,

Vivek Singh Thakur, J",,,,

Petitioner herein has been arrested in present case by police on 5.2.2020 and after remaining in police custody uptil 12.2.2020, he is in judicial",,,,

custody, in case FIR No. 54 of 2019, dated 26.3.2019, registered under Sections 420, 406, 409 and 120-B IPC in Police Station Dhali, District Shimla.",,,,

As per status report, filed on behalf of the respondent/State, prosecution case is that the FIR in question was registered on the basis of complaint",,,,

submitted by Pooja and Ruchika, wherein they have stated that they had joined Real India Agro Producer Company Ltd. as Branch Managers on",,,,

14.6.2017 and 2.6.2017 respectively under the leadership of Mr. Vinod Sharma, Mr.Harish Sharma, Mr. Rohit Thakur and Mrs. Reena Runetta, after",,,,

issuance of due appointment letters. Later on, they were informed that Real India Agro Producer Company Ltd. has amalgamated into Arise India",,,,

and thus, they became employees of amalgamated company Arise India. The company was accepting deposits from investors against the receipts",,,,

issued to them with assurance that they will be paid one installment equal to their monthly deposit amount on completion of one calendar year.,,,,

According to complaint, the Company worked properly till March, 2018, but, thereafter officers, seniors to complainants, had left the Company without",,,,

any intimation to complainants that they were forming another Company for doing the same business. They formed a new company namely,,,,

‘Himsanchay Credible Nidhi Ltd’ and started the same business, whereas, Arise India Creation Group started defaulting in making payments to",,,,

investors and when complainants asked the Company to make payments to investors, complainants were directed to make the payment from",,,,

chest/branch office of Company with assurance that as and when condition of Company would improve the Company would reimburse the amount to,,,,

the Branch, but, despite making numerous communications, complainants did not receive any response and even salaries of complainants were not",,,,

paid and instead of making payment/refund to investors, Directors of Company started sending E-mails and forcing complainants to ask the investors",,,,

to invest their maturity amount in Arise Homes and Oxi+hyginer machine instead of encashing their amount.,,,,

It is further stated in complaint that on the basis of application dated 27th February, 2019, Vinod Sharma, Harish Sharma, Rohit Thakur and Reena",,,,

Renutta were called in Police Chowki Sanjauli on 4th March, 2019 and on that day, they had assured that they will attend the Police Chowki Sanjauli",,,,

on 14.3.2019 along with CMD of Company, but, on that day, they failed to produce CMD and again requested complainants, in presence of police, to",,,,

grant time till mid of May for payment of pending maturities of complainants and also assured for payment of all customers and they also assured that,,,,

they will produce CMD of Company. But instead thereof, they started sending legal notice to complainants through Advocate, which resulted into",,,,

lodging of FIR by complainants.,,,,

On the basis of complaint, FIR was registered and record of Arise India Creation Group from its BCS Branch, Totu Branch, Sanjauli Branch and",,,,

Mashobra Branch etc. was taken in possession by police and in this record, photocopies of bonds issued on behalf of Arise India Jwell Real Private",,,,

Company, Real India Agro Produce Company Ltd and Arise Him Giri Nidhi Private Limited etc. were also taken in possession. Record of Real India",,,,

Agro Producer Company Limited and Arise India Creation Group was also obtained from RBI, SEBI and MCA. Memorandum of Association",,,,

(MOA), Articles of Association (AOA) and Registration of Company (ROC) etc. of Real Agro Producer Company and Arise India Creation Group",,,,

were also taken in possession from Harish Sharma, Regional Manager of Company from Sanjauli Branch.",,,,

As per status report, during investigation, Company Master Data of Real India Agro Producer Company Ltd was obtained, which revealed that",,,,

Company was registered on 20.1.2015 and Siddharth, Pradeep Gupta, Praduman Singh, Jyoti Gupta and Nitin Kumar Srivastav were its Directors and",,,,

these persons, in the year 2016, had opened Branches of Real India Agro Producer Company at Sanjauli, Theog and BCS Shimla and in the year",,,,

2017, they had opened Branches at Nerwa, Sunni, Mashobra and Totu. According to status report, till 2017, Managing Directors Nitin Kumar",,,,

Srivastav, Anirudh Prashad Tiwari and Praduman Tiwari of Real India Agro Producer Company had been visiting and conducting meetings with",,,,

employees in Branch Offices. In the year 2017, name of Real India Agro Producer Company was changed to Arise Him Giri India Nidhi Ltd and it",,,,

was registered with Registrar of Companies in Himachal Pradesh on 24.11.2016 reflecting Nitin Kumar Srivastav, Bhola Nath Sahani and Anirudh",,,,

Prashad Tiwari as its Directors and since 2017-18, Branches of Company had stopped making payments to investors on maturity of bonds issued to",,,,

them because Company was not providing funds for payment on such maturity.,,,,

It is also stated in status report that during investigation, on 25.1.2020, it came to the knowledge of Investigating Agency that petitioner Anirudh",,,,

Prashad Tiwari, Director of Company, had been arrested by Punjab Police in case FIR No. 201 of 2019 dated 20.11.2019 registered under Sections",,,,

420, 406, 120-B IPC, whereupon, SI Ranjeet Singh was sent to Ropar where he found that apart from aforesaid FIR No. 201 of 2019, another FIR",,,,

No. 222 of 2019 dated 10.12.2019 had also been registered against Directors of Company under Sections 420 and 409 IPC. Ropar police had arrested,,,,

petitioner in case FIR No. 201 of 2019 on 18.1.2020 and thereafter he was in judicial custody. In these circumstances, on approaching the Magistrate",,,,

by Investigating Agency on 30.1.2020, production warrant to produce the petitioner was issued by Court for 5.2.2020. In pursuant thereto, petitioner",,,,

was arrested and thereafter, he was remanded by Court to police custody till 12.2.2020 and thereafter, petitioner is in judicial custody.",,,,

According to status report it has also come in investigation that on 19.6.2018, petitioner was appointed as Executive Director for Western Territory",,,,

and thereafter, on 23.6.2018, petitioner had issued E-mail letters to all Branches as Executive Director of Company.",,,,

As per status report, despite making all efforts, Nitin Kumar Srivastav could not be traced and apprehended and Investigating Agency has obtained",,,,

KYC of account numbers wherein funds of Company were transferred from Branches located at Shimla. During investigation, team was sent to",,,,

Lucknow at registered address of Real India Agro Producer Company Limited, but, offices of the said Company were found locked. Police team had",,,,

searched Nitin Kumar Srivastav, CMD of Company at his residence, but, he was not traceable. It is stand of Investigating Agency that in this case,",,,,

CMD Nitin Kumar Srivastav and Directors namely Siddharth, Pradeep Gupta, Praduman Singh and Jyoti Gupta are also to be interrogated, but,",,,,

because of complete Lockdown w.e.f. 23.3.2020 in the entire country on account of pandemic COVID-19, Directors of Company residing in other",,,,

States could not be investigated/interrogated. On the basis of investigation carried out, challan against Anirudh Prashad Tiwari petitioner has been",,,,

presented in Court on 4.5.2020 and proceedings are pending in the trial Court at the stage of consideration on charge, whereas, supplementary challan",,,,

against other Directors shall be prepared and presented in Court after investigation/interrogation of those Directors after visiting other States.,,,,

It is evident from documents filed with petition that bail petition preferred by petitioner before Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.1, Shimla was",,,,

dismissed vide order dated 16.3.2020.,,,,

On behalf of petitioner, Company Master Data pertaining to Real India Agro Producer Company Limited and Arise India Creation Group Private",,,,

Limited has been placed on record in which the details of Directors/Signatories, as reflected in Company Master Data produced by petitioner, is as",,,,

under:-,,,,

REAL INDIA AGRO PRODUCER COMPANY LTD,,,,

DIN/PAN,NAME,"BEGIN

DATE",END DATE,"SURRENDERED

DIN

01871301,"SIDDHARTH

SHARMA",20/01/2015,15/11/2016,-

03064033,"PRADEEP

GUPTA",20/01/2015,22/11/2016,-

06660538,"PRADUMAN

SINGH",20/01/2015,16/07/2016,-

06920500,JYOTI GUPTA,20/01/2015,22/11/2016,-

06999738,"NITIN KUMAR

SRIVASTAV",20/01/2015,04/03/2017,-

Managing Directors, Amar Nath Srivastav is Joint Director, whereas Anirudh Prashad Tiwari (petitioner) and Vijay Singh are Executive Directors,",,,,

but, this document has been issued by Real India Group Headquarters Lucknow. Therefore, as to whether this newly constituted Managing",,,,

Committee is of same Company which is involved in commission of offence in present case or of different company is yet to be established in the trial,,,,

Court. Further, there are two Executive Directors in this list, but only petitioner has been associated and challan has been presented against him",,,,

whereas investigation is silent about Vijay Singh, Amar Nath Srivastav, A.P. Pandey, Mohammad Hanif and so far as Nitin Srivastav, Praduman",,,,

Singh and Siddharth Sharma are concerned, it is stated in status report that they were CMD and Directors of Companies respectively and are involved",,,,

in present case, but, surprisingly, till date none of them has been apprehended. Status report is completely silent about the efforts made by",,,,

Investigating Agency to apprehend and interrogate those persons except Nitin Srivastav. Efforts made with respect to Nitin Srivastav are also limited,,,,

only to the extent that his house and office of Company were visited by police team once or twice and he was not found there.,,,,

Along with status report, Investigating Agency has also placed on record the list of number of Companies alleged to have been associated with",,,,

offending Companies in Real India Group Companies. Each and every Company has independent identity registered with Registrar of Companies.,,,,

Petitioner is stated to be associated with 17 other such Companies, but, nothing has been produced in this Court to link those Companies with alleged",,,,

commission of offence in present case.,,,,

It is also stated in status report that during investigation, photocopies of bonds and FDRs of Arise Him Giri India Private Limited, Arise India Jwel",,,,

Real Private Limited etc. were also taken into possession by Investigating Agency, but, status report as well as record produced is completely silent as",,,,

to whether holder of those bonds and FDRs have also claimed foul play by those Companies or not, as to whether those investors have also",,,,

complained or not and/or as to whether they have received maturity amount or not.,,,,

Petition preferred by petitioner for enlarging him on bail was dismissed by learned Additional Sessions Judge-I, Shimla on 16th March, 2020.",,,,

Investigation at that time was reported to be at the initial stage and it was considered by learned Additional Sessions Judge that in case of release of,,,,

petitioner on bail, investigation of case might be hampered at that stage and rightly so, it was considered by learned Additional Sessions Judge not to",,,,

enlarge the petitioner on bail, but, now investigation against petitioner is complete, challan has been presented in Court and case is at the stage of",,,,

consideration on charge and nothing has been pointed out in status report with respect to recovery, if any, from petitioner and status report is also",,,,

silent about prayer of petitioner to enlarge him on bail and neither any reason has been assigned for continuing judicial custody of petitioner nor any,,,,

prayer to reject the petition of petitioner has been made in status report.,,,,

Taking into consideration the entire facts and circumstances of case placed before me, I find that no fruitful purpose is going to be served by",,,,

keeping the petitioner behind the bars for an indefinite period during trial and thus, he is entitled for bail at this stage and accordingly, he is directed to",,,,

be enlarged on bail in present case, subject to his furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs. 1 lac with two sureties each in the like amount to the",,,,

satisfaction of trial Court, one of which should be local surety, within four weeks from today and also subject to following further conditions:-",,,,

(i) That the petitioner shall make himself available before the trial Court on each and every date as and when required;,,,,

(ii) That the petitioner 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 Court or to any police officer or tamper with evidence. He shall not, in any manner, try to overawe or",,,,

influence or intimidate the prosecution witnesses;,,,,

(iii) That he shall not obstruct the smooth progress of trial;,,,,

(iv) That he shall not jump over the bail;,,,,

(v) That the petitioner shall not leave India without permission of Court and also shall keep on informing, in writing, regarding change of address,",,,,

landline number and/or mobile number, if any, in advance, to concerned Police Station;",,,,

(vi) That the petitioner shall not commit the offence similar to the offence to which he is accused or suspected;,,,,

(vii) That petitioner shall not misuse his liberty in any manner.,,,,

It will be open to the prosecution to apply for imposing any such other or further condition on petitioner as deemed necessary in the facts and,,,,

circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice. It will also be open to trial Court to impose any other or further condition on the petitioner as it,,,,

may deem necessary in the interest of justice.,,,,

In case the petitioner violates any condition imposed upon them, his bail shall be liable to be cancelled. In such eventuality, prosecution may",,,,

approach the competent Court of law for cancellation of bail in accordance with law.,,,,

Learned trial Court is directed to comply with the directions issued by the High Court, vide communication No.HHC.VIG./Misc.Instructions/93-",,,,

IV.7139,dated 8.03.2013.",,,,

Observations made in this order hereinbefore shall not affect the merits of case in any manner and are strictly confined for disposal of bail,,,,

application.,,,,

The petitioner is permitted to produce the copy of order downloaded from the High Court website and the trial Court shall not insist for certified,,,,

copy of order, however, he may verify the order from the High Court website or otherwise.",,,,

As custody of petitioner was taken from Ropar Police on 5.2.2020 before ACJM, Court No.1 and he was arrested through production warrant",,,,

issued by Court and thereafter he is in custody in Himachal Pradesh since February, 2020 whereas at the time of transferring custody he was in",,,,

judicial custody in District Jail, Ropar in connection with FIR No. 201 of 2019 dated 20.11.2019 and FIR No. 222 of 2019 dated 10.12.2019, therefore,",,,,

in case petitioner has not been enlarged on bail in those cases, he shall not be released from the jail, and instead he shall be handed over to Ropar",,,,

Police or to the police/Authority from whom his custody was transferred to Himachal Police, subject to any other or further order passed or to be",,,,

passed by competent Court of law having jurisdiction to deal with cases in FIR No. 201 of 2019 and 222 of 2019 registered by Ropar Police. In case,",,,,

his custody is not required in any other case, then he shall be released but subject to all conditions imposed upon him at the time of granting him bail,",,,,

including conditions imposed in this order. SHO, Dhalli and Dy.S.P (Sub Divisional Police Officer) are directed to ensure urgent compliance of this",,,,

order.,,,,

The petition stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms.,,,,

Dasti copy on usual terms.,,,,