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| Ex-relief commissioner granted pre-arrest bail; | | M/s Maytas Rithwik directed to deposit over Rs 2 cr | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 22: High court judge, Justice Hasnain Massodi has granted pre-arrest bail to ex-relief commissioner (M) Vinod Koul who is allegedly involved in a multi-crore service tax Scam.
After hearing the two sides, the court issued notice to the respondent and ordered that in the event of Koul's arrest in connection with the FIR registered by state vigilance organization (SVO), he shall be let-off subject to condition that he furnished bail bond in the amount of Rs 20,000 and personal bond in the identical amount to the satisfaction of the officer concerned.
The court directed that the petitioner would make himself available for interrogation by SVO as and when required. He would also not directly or indirectly make any inducement threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any vigilance officer.
He was directed not to leave the state without the prior permission of the court.
The court clarified that the interim pre-arrest bail shall remain in force till the next date of hearing.
According to the SVO case, a verification conducted into the allegations of payment of service tax out of government exchequer by the office of relief commissioner (Migrant), Jammu, revealed that Koul had entered into a criminal conspiracy with M/s Mytas Rithwik and in pursuance thereof he dishonestly, fraudulently and by abusing his official position made a payment in respect of service tax to the tune of Rs 2,03,18,155 out of government exchequer whereas the same was to be deducted from the running bills of aforesaid firm submitted in the office of relief commissioner (M) on account of work executed for construction of two rooms tenements at Jagti near Nagrota, Jammu, thereby causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 2,03,18,155 to the government exchequer and corresponding wrongful gain to the accused firm.
The work for construction of two rooms tenements for Kashmiri migrants at Jagti was awarded in favour of M/s Mytas Rithwik in 2007 and as per NIT terms and conditions, service tax among other taxes was to be paid after deducting the same from running bills of the contractor at the rate applicable at the relevant time.
The rate of service tax was 8.4 per cent from 2007 to March 31, 2010, and it was revised at 10.5 per cent fromApril 1, 2010.
The verification revealed that Koul, with dishonest intention and by abusing his official position, deducted service tax from the running bills of the contractor at the rate of 8.4 per cent only even after April 1, 2010, and paid remaining 2.1 per cent to the service tax department from the money drawn from the government exchequer earmarked for Jagti project, thereby causing wrongful loss of 2,03,18,155.
Meanwhile, Justice Mans-oor Ahmed Mir of high court, in a petition filed by M/s Maytas Rithwik, directed the firm to deposit Rs 2,03,18,155 within two weeks subject to the condition that it was refundable, provided the petitioner succeeded in his petition.
The court also directed SVO not to effect the arrest of the petitioner in case FIR No 3 of 2012 registered with SVO with the condition that he shall remain present before the IO whenever required.
In case the petitioner makes disclosure statement which leads to the recovery, in that event he shall be deemed to be in police custody in terms of the provisions of evidence act. He shall not try to temper with the prosecution evidence in any way and the investigating agency is at liberty to conclude the investigation, but shall not file the final chargesheet till next date of hearing. |
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