Duping of 900 Depositors in Rajouri by illegal Hablas-e-Commerce Pvt. Ltd.

18/06/2020

JAMMU, JUNE 17: In a significant order Justice Puneet Gupta of Jammu and Kashmir High Court (Jammu Wing) has rejected the bail application of a prime accused namely Mohd. Toyab Choudhary son of Mohd. Bashir resident of Village Panhad, Rajouri in a multi-crore Finance Company Scam wherein more than 900 people belonging to remote areas of Rajouri District have been duped of Rs.12,76,37000/- (Rupees Twelve Crore Seventy Six Lakh and Thirty Seven Thousand Only).
After hearing Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi with Advocate Waheed Choudhary appearing for the applicant/accused Mohd. Tayob Choudhary whereas Deputy Advocate General Arshad Majid Malik appearing for Crime Branch Jammu, Justice Puneet Gupta while rejecting the bail application observed that Deputy AG A.M. Malik has vehemently argued that mere filing of the charge sheet against the accused cannot be the sole criteria for granting bail to the accused as the supplementary charge sheet is yet to be filed on the completion of the investigation and the arrest of some of the accused persons is yet to take place.
The counsel for Crime Branch Deputy A.G. A.M. Malik also invited the attention of the Court towards the detailed status report/objections wherein it was divulged by Crime Branch that accused Mohd. Tayob Choudhary has purchased a brand new vehicle bearing registration No.JK11D-5945 (Mahindra Scorpio S-11) on December, 15, 2018 and as per the report of ARTO Rajouri the vehicle in question is registered in the name of Mohd. Tayob Choudhary and has been purchased by him for an amount of Rs.15,47,136/- on cash payment and during questioning the accused could not prove any other source of income to purchase the above said vehicle on cash. During investigation the accused confessed that the above said vehicle has been purchased out of the public money. Deputy AG A.M. Malik also pointed out from the report that during the course of investigation 15 individual depositors voluntarily attended Crime Branch Jammu and revealed in their statements that they have also been lured by accused Mohd. Toyab Choudhary and others by means of cheating and fraud and have suffered great losses.
On the other hand Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi with Advocate Waheed Choudhary strenuously argued that the bail is sought on the ground that the accused has not committed any offence as he was only appointed as agent of M/s Hablas-e-Commerce Pvt. Ltd. and in case the applicant has collected money on behalf of the investors it was for the company and not in individual capacity and further the charge sheet has been presented against the accused in the court of law and in case further recovery is to be made from the accused the same can be fruitful in case he is out of custody. Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi further contended that some of the accused have been granted bail by the Court of CJM, Poonch in another related FIR having same allegations therein. Lastly it was submitted that the accused is entitled to bail in view of the directions asked by the Apex Court on account of extra ordinary situation prevailing because of COVID-19 pandemic.
At this stage Deputy Advocate General Arshad Majid Malik while rebutting the submissions of Senior Counsel Sunil Sethi submitted that the accused is not entitled to the directions passed by the Apex Court as the directions of the Apex Court do not speak of the release of the persons who are accused of the offences which carry punishment upto seven years without exception during the present scenario.
After considering the submissions of both the sides through virtual mode, Justice Puneet Gupta of J&K High Court (Jammu Wing) rejected the bail application with the observation that the court does not find substantial change of circumstances to grant bail to the accused after the dismissal of the earlier application filed by the applicant for bail and the Court finds no reason to allow the application at this stage and is accordingly dismissed.

Photo Gallery

BSE Sensex

NSE Nifty