The Bombay High Court on Friday granted protection from arrest to Future Group’s non-executive director Sunil Biyani in a ₹1,200-crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) scam. [Sunil Biyani v. Union of India & Ors].Single-judge Justice NR Borkar found that the Central GST authority had not passed any order that called for Biyani’s arrest. “In absence of such an order under Section 69 of the CGST Act, Biyani can not be arrested. In that view of the matter, at this stage, the present Anticipatory Bail Application can not be entertained,” the Court held. However, he stated that if such an order is passed by the authority, Biyani shall not be arrested thereafter for a week from the date of intimation of such order, the Court said..Biyani approached the High Court after the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) issued summons to him. The underlying probe relates to a large scale fake invoicing and circular input tax credit racket with a total GST implication of over ₹200 crores. In this case, invoices and input tax credit exists on paper and not in real business activity..The DGCI explained through an affidavit that the case also involves ₹1208.77 crore in foreign remittances on which about ₹217.57 crores GST appears payable and about ₹50 crore of ineligible input tax credit. About ₹664.70 crore of these remittances allegedly moved through Alphaneon Studioz and Pindflix Entertainment where the Biyani was a director. .According to DGCI, Alphaneon alone is said to have availed ineligible input tax credit of about ₹20 crores on the strength of invoices of the suppliers who were later found to be non-existent or not operating from their registered premises. They argued that the magnitude of the alleged evasion, layered transactions and electronic evidence makes the custodial interrogation indispensable. .Biyani’s plea for pre-arrest bail stressed that he had emailed his resignation from the relevant company in July 2023. As per his plea, he has been falsely implicated through fraudulent company filings by Alphaneon.He denied any role in the alleged fraud claiming that he had been dragged into the investigation despite offering to co-operate and respond in writing to the summons. .Advocates Abhinav Chandrachud, Abhishek Salian and Mayuresh Ingale appeared for Biyani.Advocates JB Mishra, Sangeeta Yadav, Rupesh Dubey and Umesh Gupta appeared for DGCI.[Read Order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.
