Naresh Kumar Chhaparia V. Union of India through Central Bureau of Investigation

A.B.A./8406/2022

AI Insights

Naresh Kumar Chhaparia sought anticipatory bail from the High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi, apprehending his arrest in connection with a case involving a conspiracy to grant undue favor in tax assessments. The case, registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, accused Chhaparia and others of transferring the PAN of his company from Kolkata to Ranchi to manipulate tax assessments favorably. The prosecution argued that this transfer was part of a broader conspiracy involving Tapas Kumar Dutta, the then Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Ranchi. Chhaparia's counsel argued that he did not benefit from the transfer and highlighted that similarly situated co-accused had been granted bail by the Supreme Court. The CBI opposed the bail, emphasizing the serious nature of the conspiracy.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 695291 (HC-JHARKHAND)
• Appeal Type: Others
• Pronouncement Date: 10-05-2023
• Assessment Year: misc
• Other Referred Cases: SLP (Crl) No.526 of 2023, SLP (Crl) No.544 of 2023
• Laws Referred To: Indian Penal Code, P.C. Act, 1988, I.T. Act
• Result in Favour of: Others
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Department Lawyers: ANIL KUMAR; CHANDANA KUMARI; NITISH SARTHI
• Assessee Lawyers: PANDEY RAI
• Keywords: Anticipatory bail; Criminal conspiracy; Income tax assessment; PAN transfer; Undue favour
• Section: 12; 264; 13(2); 7; 8; 13(1)(d); 120-B; 120-B; 438(2)

Judgement Text

"IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI A. B. A. No. 8406 of 2022 Naresh Kumar Chhaparia @ Naresh Chhaparia .... .. ... Petitioner(s) Versus Union of India through Central Bureau of Investigation .. ... ...Opp. Party(s) ........... CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAUTAM KUMAR CHOUDHARY ......... For the Petitioner : Mr. Pandey Neeraj Rai, Advocate For the CBI : Mr. Anil Kumar, ASGI Ms. Chandana Kumari, AC to ASGI Mr. Nitish Parth Sarthi, AC to ASGI …... 09/ 10.05.2023.. Apprehending his arrest, petitioner above-named has moved this Court for grant of anticipatory bail in connection with R.C.AC 1 2018 A 0007 (corresponding to R.C.07(A)/2018-D) dated 26.04.2018 registered under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 7, 8, 12 and 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the P.C. Act, 1988. Heard the parties. As per the case of prosecution is that one Tapas Kumar Dutta while functioning as the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Ranchi, during the year 2016-17 entered in a criminal conspiracy with income tax assesees well as Chartered Accountants and others to grant them undue favour in tax assessment filed on their behalf. It is alleged that as a part of modus operandi, the PAN of the Income Tax assees was transferred from Kolkata to Ranchi / Hazaribag in order to give them undue favour in Income Tax Assessment. The case against the petitioner is that in the assessment year 2012-13, the controller of the Company, namely, M/s Shubhlabh Delmark Pvt. Ltd., Naresh Kumar Chhaparia (petitioner) got the PAN of the company transferred from Ward 5(1), Kolkata to Ward 3(1), Ranchi vide order dated 30.03.2016 in conspiracy with Shri Tapas Kumar Dutta. During investigation, it came into light that the company of this petitioner had preferred an appeal before CIT (Appeals) at Kolkatta, but Shri Tapas Kumar Dutta initiated the proceedings under Section 264 of I.T. Act with sole intention to ensure favour to the company. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that his re-assessment of Income Tax account was not made finally and he did not derive any benefit of said transfer from Kolkata to Ranchi. It is further submitted that exactly similarly situated two co-accused persons, namely, Shri Satya Narayan Sarawagi, the controller of M/s Parshwa Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. and Shri Uday Shankar Mahawar, the controller of M/s Trandon Distributors Pvt. Ltd. have been granted bail by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in SLP (Crl) No.526 of 2023 and . SLP (Crl) No.544 of 2023 respectively. It is submitted that the case of this petitioner stands on similar footing and after investigation, charge-sheet has already been submitted against both of them. Learned ASGI for the CBI has vehemently opposed the prayer. It is submitted that the petitioner in conspiracy with principal accused, Tapas Kumar Datta as well as with others committed the offence and further PAN of the Income Tax Assessees was transferred from Kolkata to Ranchi / Hazaribag in order to give them undue favour in Income Tax Assessment. Considering the submissions of learned counsel and the fact as discussed above, the anticipatory bail application is allowed. Hence, in the event of his arrest or surrender within a period of four weeks from the date of this order, the petitioner named above shall be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Court below and subject to the condition that one of the bailor(s) must be Income Tax Payee and subject to the conditions laid down under Section 438(2) Cr. P.C. (Gautam Kumar Choudhary, J.) Sandeep/ Uploaded. "