The Supreme Court while disposing of the petition filed by the husband of a Chinese national accused in Rs. 9 Crore GST scam, stated that it is difficult to declare arrest illegal.
The bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Viswanathan has observed that the petitioner, XU XUNFU, the husband of Chinese National, Alice Li should immediately apply for bail before the Court concerned in accordance with law.Once any bail application is filed, the Court concerned shall look into it expeditiously on its own merits in accordance with law, without being influenced in any way by the fact that the Court declined to entertain the Article 32 petition.
The bench clarified that the bail application of the petitioner shall be decided strictly applying the very settled principles of grant of bail.
The petitioner is a Chinese national. She has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution on the ground that her arrest by the Commissioner, Central Goods and Services Taxes (CGST), Commissionerate, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Greater Noida for the alleged offences as mentioned in the Arrest Memo dated 26-8-2025 could be termed as illegal and thereby violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
ASG Aishwarya Bhati along with SPP Lakshay Kumar Singh has contended that the Arrest Memo issued under Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017, the grounds for arrest furnished to the petitioner and a co-accused and in the last, the order passed by the Commissioner under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017. The investigation is at a nascent stage. There is some prima facie material on the basis of which the petitioner was arrested. She would submit that the arrest cannot be termed in any manner as illegal or violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.
The court noted that the contents of the arrest memo including the grounds for arrest is that the Department has initiated investigation against one Company by name M/s. Tantech LED Display Pvt. Limited. This investigation is being done by the Anti-Evasion Wing, CGST, Gautam Buddha Nagar.
The court clarified that the bail application of the petitioner shall be decided strictly applying the very settled principles of grant of bail. If any such application is filed, the Court concerned shall look into it at the earliest and pass an appropriate order on its own merits in accordance with law.
Case Details
Case Title: Xu Xunfu Versus UOI
Case No.: Writ Petition(Criminal) No.369/2025
Date: 22-09-2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Advocates Abhijit Anand, Umesh Dubey
Counsel For Respondent: ASG Aishwarya Bhati, SPP Lakshay Kumar Singh, Adv.Chitragda Rashtravara
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