InSLP (Crl.) No. 9431 of 2023 -SC-Shakti Bhog money laundering case: Supreme Court rejects Tarun Kumar's bail plea
Justice Aniruddha Bose & Justice Bela M. Trivedi [20-11-2023]

Read Order: Tarun Kumar V. Assistant Director Directorate of Enforcement

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, November 21, 2023: The Supreme Court has dismissed the bail plea of Tarun Kumar, Vice President of Purchases at Shakti Bhog Limited, in the Shakti Bhog money laundering case. The decision, based on the gravity of the offence and strong evidence against him, upheld the Delhi High Court's previous denial of bail.

The appellant-accused, dissatisfied with the Delhi High Court’s decision, had filed the present appeal. The charges involved offenses under Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and under Section 120B along with Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Briefly stated, the case involved M/s. Shakti Bhog Foods Ltd. (SBFL), a company managed by its Directors/Guarantors and the appellant, who was the nephew of one of the directors. The State Bank of India and other banks had engaged a Forensic Auditor to review SBFL's financial activities, revealing substantial irregularities and alleged non-payment of loans, causing a loss of Rs. 3269.42 crores to the banks. This led to the registration of an FIR by the CBI against the directors, employees, and other unknown individuals under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. Additionally, an ECIR was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PML Act) in connection with the scheduled offences outlined in the FIR. The appellant, though not initially named in the complaints, was summoned multiple times for investigation before eventually being arrested and arraigned as an accused in the case. The appellant's bail application was first dismissed by the Special Judge, and subsequently rejected by the High Court of Delhi.

The division bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M. Trivedi noted sufficient material, including documents, demonstrating the appellant's conscious involvement in activities linked to the proceeds of crime.

The bench also rejected the submission for bail based on parity with other co-accused, emphasizing that the court should consider the role attached to the accused under consideration. While the main accused and other co-accused were granted bail on medical grounds, the appellant's role, as the Vice President of Purchases, involved day-to-day operations, leading to siphoning off funds to sister concerns. The bench clarified that the principle of parity did not justify repeating illegality or passing similar wrong orders. If a benefit had been conferred without legal basis, others cannot claim the benefit as a matter of right based on such a wrong decision under Article 14 of the Constitution.

The bench opined that it was difficult to countenance the submission of the appellant's counsel that the investigation concerning the appellant was complete, and the trial of the cases was likely to take a long time. The appellant, according to the counsel, should not be incarcerated indefinitely merely because the investigation was kept open regarding the other accused. However, the bench stated that the appellant had failed to overcome the threshold stipulations contemplated in Section 45 of PML Act, namely, he could not prima facie prove that he was not guilty of the alleged offence and was not likely to commit any offence while on bail.

The bench observed that economic offences needed to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. Economic offences, with deep-rooted conspiracies and involving a significant loss of public funds, needed to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a whole, thereby posing a serious threat to the financial health of the nation. Undoubtedly, economic offences had serious repercussions on the development of the country as a whole.

“With the advancement of technology and Artificial Intelligence, the economic offences like money laundering have become a real threat to the functioning of the financial system of the country and have become a great challenge for the investigating agencies to detect and comprehend the intricate nature of transactions, as also the role of the persons involved therein,” remarked the court.

With the afore-stated observations, the present appeal was dismissed.