The Gauhati High Court has granted the anticipatory bail to Faiz Ahmed, a person accused of passing fake ITC worth Rs. 199.31 crores, which were passed to 58 firms across 11 States using fabricated invoices totalling Rs. 658.88 Crores.
The bench of Justice Kardak Ete observed that the accused persons had fraudulently obtained the GST ID using forged rent agreement with fake seal of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Changlang along with other forged documents including Aadhar Card, PAN Card and electricity bill and thereby subsequently raised fake invoices with huge amounts defrauding the government exchequer. The main accused is one Ashutosh Kumar Jha, who appears to have relations with the present accused/applicant as can be seen from the correspondence/communication made between them. However, the same appears to be a matter of investigation.
The applicant engaged one Chartered Accountant, Asis Kumar Jha, in the year 2021 for filing of returns of income taxes and GST and also obtained a loan of Rs. 30,00,000 from the said Asis Kumar Jha. After the demise of said Asis Kumar Jha in a road accident, the applicant continued to repay the loan to his widow on installment basis.
In the meantime, one Ashutosh Kumar Jha, a former employee of Late Asis Kumar Jha, took over the work and allegedly began to pressurize the applicant for payment of balance amount of loan obtained from Late Asis Kumar Jha, although the applicant was paying the same to the wife of Late Asis Kumar Jha. In the process, there used to be a communication between the applicant and the said Ashutosh Kumar Jha, who happens to be an accused in the case being running his business in the name of M/S Siddhi Vinayak Trade Merchants.
The applicant contended that he is no way connected with the said business of M/S Siddhi Vinayak Trade Merchants, which is alleged to be run by Ashutosh Kumar Jha. The applicant as soon as came to know about the case had joined the investigation. The allegation in the case pertains to the offence alleged to have been committed by Ashutosh Kumar Jha and his associates of which the applicant is unaware of.
The applicant contended that the applicant apprehends that he might be arrested in the aforesaid case as according to the police the applicant has some connection with said Ashutosh Kumar Jha. He further submits that the applicant has already appeared before the Investigating Officer, cooperating with the investigation, and he has no criminal antecedents. Therefore, the accused/applicant may be granted with the privilege of pre-arrest bail.
The court noted that the main accused has already been enlarged on bail as the charge-sheet was not filed within the statutory period of 90 days, and since the applicant’s statement has been recorded and he has been thoroughly examined, no further custodial interrogation is necessary.
The court held that the accused/applicant has appeared before the Investigating Officer and he is co-operating with the investigation and his statement has been recorded which indicates that the same corroborates with the bank statement and whatsapp conversation with the main accused- Shri Ashutosh Kumar Jha. It is also noted that on being examined and recording of statements, custodial interrogation of the accused/applicant appears to be not required. Thus, the accused/applicant is entitled to be admitted to the privilege of pre-arrest bail.
Case Details
Case Title: Faiz Ahmed Versus The State of AP
Case No.: AB/103/2025
Date: 21.10.2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Md. Apzal Ansari
Counsel For Respondent: PP Tania Kipa
