Madras High Court dismissed the anticipatory bail applications filed by nine persons apprehending arrest under the provisions of the Act on Tuesday.
Justice Anand Venkatesh said that in case of violations involving colossal loss of revenue, court should lay off its hands from investigation and allow complete independence to the prosecuting agency to proceed further with the investigation.
The companies concerned in the present case were involved in issuing fake invoices without the supply of goods and received fake invoices without receipt of goods and thereby, committed offences under the CGST Act, 2017 as per the order.
The judge said that te hands of the department should not be tied by entertaining petitions since what has been unearthed till now is only the tip of the iceberg and there is a long way to go to find out how long these fake invoices have extended their tentacles. He added that it is a settled proposition of law that the court, while considering a petition for advance bail, has to necessarily take into consideration the nature and gravity of the accusation and when a case involves serious offences, grant of the relief by itself will cause prejudice to the investigation
Since the department had collected some prima facie materials, it wanted to act fast before it became a huge racket, failing which the entire economy of the country would weaken and collapse, the judge said and dismissed the advance bail pleas.
