Rajasthan High Court Denies Bail in Alleged Rs 25.79 Crore GST Evasion Case, Citing Non-Appearance Despite SC Protection

DGGI's Jaipur Zonal Unit arrested the petitioner in a case under Section 132(1)(a), (f) and (h) read with Sections 132(1)(i) and 132(5) of the CGST Act (para 1). He said he had been in custody since 01.08.2026, that the case rests on documents and electronic evidence already with the department, that a complaint had been filed, that a co-accused had been granted bail and that the offence is magistrate-triable with a five-year maximum (para 2). DGGI opposed bail, saying he had not answered five summonses in this case and that an earlier adjudication had held him to have wrongly availed input tax credit of Rs 1,27,92,566 (paras 4-5).

Relying on the case diary, the Court noted the allegation that the petitioner transported about 7,201.529 metric tonnes of lead ingots valued at about Rs 143.3 crore without tax invoices, causing alleged evasion of about Rs 25.79 crore; his recorded statement 'is stated to contain an admission', and WhatsApp chats and PDF files detail the transport (para 7). The investigation is still in progress and the amount may rise (para 7). In a separate matter, the Supreme Court had granted him interim protection on condition that he join and cooperate with the investigation, but he did neither, and the Assessing Authority's order records that he did not answer summons; the Court said such conduct 'indicates a disregard for the directions issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court' (para 8). Following the Supreme Court's order in Umang Garg v. Union of India, which declined bail where another similar case had been registered, it noted the separate finding of wrongly availed input tax credit (para 9). Weighing this conduct, the ongoing investigation and the gravity and amount of the alleged evasion, it declined bail without commenting on the merits (para 10).