The Supreme Court has set aside an order releasing an accused booked for allegedly misappropriating more than Rs 3 crore. The Apex Court held that the High Court, vide the impugned order, appeared to take a mechanical route in releasing the accused under the extraordinary relief of anticipatory bail.

The Apex Court was considering an appeal challenging the final judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court whereby the first Respondent accused came to be enlarged on bail under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with an FIR registered under Sections 316(4), 344, 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

The Division Bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra held, “The impugned order, while explicitly recording the contents of this report, makes no reference to the contents thereof in its reasoning. Pertinently, there is no reference as to why his alleged conduct of being on the run ought to be ignored. In our view, the Court erred by not taking this relevant status report into consideration. Such failure cannot be sustained. Moreover, the Court vide the impugned order appears to be have taken a mechanical route in releasing the accused under the extraordinary relief of anticipatory bail. No consideration was made to the merits of the allegations against him or his conduct, as alleged by the investigating agencies.”

AOR Lalltaksh Joshi represented the Appellant, while AOR Sameer Kumar represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The Appellant lodged an FIR against the accused and his family members for allegedly misappropriating more than Rs 3 crore. As per the FIR, the complainant was the registered Chartered Accountant for Amandeep Healthcare Private Limited, while the accused was working as a Senior Accountant at Amandeep Hospital. It was stated that the accused was responsible for transferring amounts from the various Units of the Hospital, with due permission of the higher management. During the course of work, the management discovered irregularities in the accounts of Amandeep Nursing College. An explanation was called for from the accused; however, he did not report to work.

After an internal investigation, it was discovered that the accused had embezzled over Rs 3 crore from various accounts, to accounts belonging to him and his family members. The complainant made specific allegations as to the transfer of money from the various units of Amandeep Healthcare to the accused. The accused sought anticipatory bail before the Sessions Court, but his request was rejected. Aggrieved thereof, the accused moved an application for the same relief before the High Court. A chargesheet was filed against the accused persons.

Reasoning

The Bench, at the outset, reaffirmed that an appeal against the grant of bail and an application seeking cancellation of bail are on different footing. The Bench took note of the fact that the reasoning adopted by the High Court completely disregarded the status report of the investigation against the accused wherein it was stated that the custodial interrogation of the petitioner was utmost required for fair and proper investigation of the case as well as to recover the embezelled amount and in order to identify other persons who were involved with him in commission of the crime.

Holding that the judgment of the High Court was vitiated by non-consideration of essential facts, the Bench allowed the appeal.

Asking the accused to surrender before the Trial Court within two weeks, the Bench ordered, “It shall be open for the accused to apply for regular bail before the appropriate court, which shall be considered on its own merits, uninfluenced by the observations made hereinabove.”

Cause Title: Salil Mahajan v. Avinash Kumar & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 1396)

Appearance

Appellant: AOR Lalltaksh Joshi

Respondent: AOR Sameer Kumar, AOR Abha Sharma

Click here to read/download Judgment




Justice Sanjay KarolJustice Prashant Kumar Mishra

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.