Case no. – Criminal Revision Application No. 183 of 2023
Case Title – Anil Goel v. Union of India & Anr.
Appearance
Applicant: Mr.Aabad Ponda, Senior Advocate with Adithya Iyer, Aishwarya Kanthawala, Advait Helekar, Manuj Borkar and Nyayosh Bharucha
Respondent no 1: Mr.Shriram Shirsat with Shekhar Mane, Janvi Mate, and Karishma Rajesh
State : Mr.Y.M.Nakhwa,
CORAM: BHARATI DANGRE, J
Order dated: 25th OCTOBER, 2023
Introduction
Former chief commissioner of income tax Mr Anil Goel has been discharged from a corruption case by the High Court of Bombay for allegedly occupying a flat without paying rent while posted in Kerala.
Facts of the case
F.I.R. is lodged by the CBI, ACB, Cochin for the offenses punishable under Sections 7, 12, & 13(2) read with 13(1)(a) & (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 read with Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code A primary charge-sheet was filed against the other accused persons named in the F.I.R., leaving out the Applicant and even during the course of investigation from 2015 to 2019, he was never arrested
C.B.I. fled the supplementary chargesheet against the Applicant, accusing them of committing an offense under Section 11 of the P.C. Act. The allegation leveled against him is that, while functioning as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT) he occupied a flat without payment of any rent
The Applicant is alleged to have stayed in the Apartment, free of cost, by abusing the official position, as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Thiruvananthapuram. It is alleged that rent of Rs.4,40,000/ was paid by M/s Heera Constructions Pvt. Ltd. to the owner of the Apartment. The Applicant applied Section 406 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“CrPC”), seeking the transfer of the proceedings pending before the Special Judge at Thiruvananthapuram to any Special Court at Mumbai and the Apex Court, by order, transferred the proceedings to the Special Court at Mumbai, with direction that the proceedings shall be decided expeditiously.
The applicant moved an application for his release on bail, post filing of the charge sheet on the ground that, he was never arrested during the investigation and the same is allowed by the Special Court for C.B.I. at Greater Bombay
the Applicant moved an application for discharge under Section 227 of the CrPC, by submitting that on a bare perusal of the applicable Section 7 of the PC Act, it is evident that to sustain an allegation under Section 11, a public servant must accept or obtain or attempt to obtain for himself, or any other person, “any valuable thing without consideration” or for a consideration, which he knows to be inadequate.
The question before the court was whether, from the charge sheet, it was evident that Goel had obtained a ‘valuable thing’ connected to his official f functions
Analysis of the court
The court observed that Goel had borne all necessary expenses for the flat, including maintenance, electricity, and society charges. The court noted that Goel was unaware of the ownership details when he was shown the flat by his sub-ordinate when he came to Thiruvananthapuram as the CCIT. It questioned the absence of any notice or demand for rent and underscored that the service charge was borne by Goel. The court emphasized that no communication was sent to Goel to vacate the flat, raising doubts about his knowledge regarding rent payment requirements.
Setting aside the Special CBI Court’s order, the High Court discharged Goel, allowing his Criminal Revision Application.
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Written By
Kaulav roy chowdhury
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