The Gurugram Court has declared arrest by a GST officer illegal as the ground of arrest not informed in a proper manner.
The bench of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Amit Gattam has observed that The first and foremost objection of the applicant/accused is that the grounds of arrest were not informed to him in proper manner and merely a formality was done by the prosecution by providing grounds of arrest in writing. On the arrest memo, it has been acknowledged by the accused himself in writing that he has been informed and explained about the grounds of arrest.
The GST department filed the judicial remand application for 14 days against the accused who has allegedly committed the offence under Section 132(1) of CGST Act, 2017, for which sentence is 5 years.
The accused argued that the grounds of arrest were not communicated properly to the accused and just formality has been made by the complainant in the name of informing the grounds of arrest and as such, the grounds of arrest as provided by the prosecution is not sufficient to understand the nature of the case.
The accused argued that compliance of Section 41A of Cr.P.C./Section 35 of BNSS Act, 2023 has not been made because issuance of notice prior to arrest of applicant/accused was necessary before arresting him as the offence involved in the present case is punishable not exceeding 7 years. Therefore, it has been requested that the arrest of the accused is illegal and he may be released from custody.
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The GST department contended that the accused has been arrested as per Section 69 of the GST Act. The accused has been arrested under a special Act and hence, provision of Section 41, 41(A) of Cr.P.C/35 of BNSS Act will not be applicable in the case in hand. The grounds of arrest were duly informed in writing to the accused and there is no illegality in the arrest of accused. All the legal requirements have been complied with while arresting the accused in the present case. The department requested to dismiss the application filed on behalf of the applicant/accused and requested to send the applicant/accused in judicial custody for 14 days.
The court noted that the prosecution was under obligation to comply with the provisions of Section 41, 41A of Cr.P.C/35 of BNSS Act, 2023 before arresting the accused but the same has not been complied and as such, arrest of accused cannot be termed as legal.
Case Details
Case Title: CGST. Vs. Yogesh Gupta
Case No.: CIS No. REMP/1 32/2025
Date: 17/01/2025
Counsel For Applicant: Sh. Pramod Bahuguna, Sr. Public Prosecutor for the complainant department assisted by Inspector Anurag Kumar
Counsel For Respondent: Gaurav Gupta
