Crl.M.P.No.176/2026 in F.No.DGGI/INT/INTL/11/2026 1 - EO Court/Hyd
IN THE COURT OF THE SPECIAL JUDGE FOR TRIAL OF CASES UNDER
ECONOMIC OFFENCES: HYDERABAD
PRESENT: KUMAR VIVEK, District & Sessions Judge, Hyderabad.
Monday, this the 18th day of May, 2026.
Crl.M.P. No.176 of 2026 (Comp.No.)
Crl.M.P.No.2325 of 2026 (Regd. No.)
in
F.No.DGGI/INT/INTL/11/2026
Between:
Shri Shailesh Pandey, Bishwanath Pandey, Age: 52 years, R/o. 2005, Tower 5, Saphire Heights, Lokhandwala Township, Kandivali East, Mumbai, Maharashtra. ….Petitioner/Accused
&
Union of India through DGGI, Hyderabad) ….Respondent/Complainant
This petition has come before me on 30.04.2026 for hearing in the presence of Sri S. Abhijeeth Reddy, Advocate for the petitioner/accused and the Special Public Prosecutor, Special Court for trial of cases under Economic Offences, Hyderabad for the respondent/complainant, and upon perusal of the material papers available on record and the matter having heard, read over and stood to till this day for consideration, this Court delivered the following:
:: ORDER ::
1.This is a petition filed under section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik
Suraksha Sanhita -2023 for granting pre-arrest bail to the petitioner/accused.
2.The learned counsel for the petitioner/accused has submitted before this
Court that the apprehension of the petitioner/accused of arrest by the
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respondent/complainant is arising from the fact that he has been served with two summons in connection with file no.DGGI/INT/INTL/11/2026 and the first summons bearing DIN no.202603DSS40000999C61 dated: 07.03.2026 was served via e-mail on 07.03.2026 and the second summons bearing DIN no.202603DSS4000002070C dated: 16.03.2026 was served via e-mail on 16.03.2026, and the apprehension of the petitioner/accused of his arrest is also based upon the arrest of co-accused Rishi Gupta, Chief Executive Officer and
Managing Director of M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited on 27.02.2026 in connection with same Goods and Service Tax file; that first and second summons demanded personal appearance of the petitioner/accused in
Hyderabad on 09.03.2026 and 23.03.2026 respectively; that the first summons in essence merely granted 37 hours inclusive of Sunday to the petitioner/accused to collate and produce massive volumes of transaction data for 177 distinct entities across multiple financial years, and the petitioner/accused replied via e-mail expressing his inability to attend before the officer of the respondent/ complainant in Hyderabad at such a short notice; that the petitioner/accused filed Writ Petition no.7415 of 2026 before the Hon’ble High Court for the State of
Telangana on 10.03.2026 challenging first summons that was disposed of without going into merits of the matter as the said summons could not be acted upon; that the petitioner/accused expressed his inability to attend before the officer of the respondent/complainant in Hyderabad in pursuance of the second summons owing to the surgery of the mother-in-law of the petitioner/accused
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on 23.03.2026 that was scheduled much prior to receipt of said summons, and he requested additional 10 days to physically attend before the officer of the respondent/complainant after improvement of the health condition of his mother-in-law; that the first summons merely states that the inquiry pertains to non-payment of Goods and Service Tax on supply of taxable services without disclosing the specific nature of alleged inquiry, transactions under scrutiny, or the role attributed to the petitioner/accused; that the first summons was issued by the respondent/complainant without jurisdiction in view of para 3(c) and 3(e) of Directorate General of GST Intelligence Guidelines for conducting investigation in certain cases dated: 08.02.2024 that precluded a Zonal Unit from initiating investigation against a taxpayer located outside its geographical jurisdiction, and the petitioner/accused is located in Mumbai; that the said summons was also issued in violation of procedure prescribed in para 3(ii) of
Guidelines on Issuance of Summons of Goods and Service Tax-Investigation
Wing dated: 17.08.2022 that requires prior written permission from an officer not below the rank of Deputy/Assistant Commissioner before issuing summons, and the said summons was issued by an officer holding the rank of
Superintendent; that as per para 2 of Guidelines on Issuance of Summons of
Goods and Service Tax-Investigation Wing dated: 17.08.2022 read with para 4 of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence Guidelines dated: 08.02.2024, the officer should first seek information through letters of requisition or official correspondence, and resort to the coercive power of summons only where such
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information cannot otherwise be obtained, and in the present case no such preliminary step was taken before issuing summons to the petitioner/accused officer; that the petitioner/accused is Chief Business Officer of M/s. Fino
Payments Bank Limited and in view of para 3(vi) of Guidelines on Issuance of
Summons of Goods and Service Tax-Investigation Wing dated: 17.08.2022 he should not ordinarily be summoned unless there exists clear material indicating his personal involvement, and these facts are creating apprehension in the mind of the petitioner/accused that the respondent/complainant may take coercive action against him including arrest; that at the time of onboarding of M/s.
Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions
Private Limited on the Bank as Payment Aggregator (BAPA) services of M/s. Fino
Payments Bank Limited on 25.11.2024 and 17.09.2024 respectively there was no requirement for M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited to physically verify the merchant’s address/infrastructure, and M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited was only required to collect their KYC documents; that M/s. Fino Payments Bank
Limited has been using the services of iPowerFI Technologies Private Limited for monitoring the transactions of its merchants by performing transaction laundering and web crawling, and in the month of July 2025, iPowerFI
Technologies Private Limited highlighted red flag to M/s. Fino Payments Bank
Limited in relation to M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited that M/s.
Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited was engaging in gambling on 02.07.2025; that M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited immediately blocked and
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deactivated M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited and information with regard to same was supplied to the respondent/ complainant on 19.01.2026; that on 15.07.2025 during an internal monitoring and audit carried out by M/s.
Fino Payments Bank Limited and its employees it was found that M/s.
Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited had not provided the Goods and
Service Tax filing certificate to M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited and on the said ground M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited immediately blocked and deactivated
M/s. Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and the information with regard to the same was supplied to the respondent/ complainant on 19.01.2026 itself; that the petitioner/accused is no way involved in the operations of the program managers and the merchants. and he is neither a director nor a shareholder in
M/s. Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT Hub
Solutions Private Limited and has not received any amount in any capacity; that the summons dated: 14.02.2026 and 18.02.2026 were sent to said Rishi Gupta by the respondent/complainant on a non-operational e-mail address and the said two summons bounced and the respondent/complainant received information about the same; that the said two summons were communicated to the officers of M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited on 23.02.2026 via e-mail received by one
Anup Agarwal, Executive Vice President, Finance, and on 26.02.2026 at about 12.58 A.M. M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited through e-mail of one Vivek Kapur replied and supplied the digital copy of all the information that were handed over to the officers previously on 19.01.2026; that even if all the materials relied
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upon by the respondent/complainant is taken as a whole and considered against the petitioner/accused, the same is no way attribute any role of the petitioner/ accused in Goods and Service Tax evasion by M/s. Oceanique Web
Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited; that the entire case of the respondent/complainant is that said Rishi Gupta as the
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of M/s. Fino Payments Bank
Limited facilitated the masterminds of the syndicate with onboarding of merchant entities and program managers and thereby enabled routing of funds and abetted the masterminds in committing Goods and Service Tax evasion; that the petitioner/accused as Chief Business Officer of M/s. Fino Payments
Bank Limited does not have any control upon the program manager/resellers and not concerned with Goods and Service Tax defaults committed by third parties; that the petitioner/accused through M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited have taken all precautions and carried out all necessary due diligence in relation to all its merchants including M/s. Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and
M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited; that M/s. Oceanique Web
Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited are still active with Goods and Services Tax but no action has been taken against them; that admittedly M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited issued invoices for their services to M/s. Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT
Hub Solutions Private Limited hence, the question of evasion of Goods and
Service Tax and not issuing invoices does not arise; that maximum term of
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imprisonment prescribed under section 132(1)(i)(ii) of the Central Goods and
Services Tax, 2017 is five years, therefore, the plea of the pre-arrest bail of the petitioner/accused may liberally be considered; that M/s. Fino Payments Bank
Limited cooperated with the respondent/complainant in all possible ways and no material or evidence regarding personal involvement of the petitioner/ accused on non-payment of Goods and Service Tax on supply of taxable services have been produced by the respondent/complainant; that the entire case of the respondent/complainant is based on documentary evidence, that are in the custody of the respondent/complainant; that the investigation in this case has been going on from the month of January, 2026 and nothing remains to be recovered from the petitioner/accused and M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited hence custodial interrogation of the petitioner/accused is not required; and that the petitioner/accused is permanent resident of Mumbai and there is no likelihood of his flight risk.
3.Counter is filed on behalf of the respondent/complainant by the Senior
Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Hyderabad.
4.The Special Public Prosecutor, Special Court for trial of cases under
Economic Offences, Hyderabad has submitted before this Court that during investigation it is revealed that M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited is involved in onboarding of M/s. Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin
IT Hub Solutions Private Limited, dummy/non-operational merchants through
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various program managers/resellers, who were verified and found to be non- operational at their registered premises and said merchants onboarded by M/s.
Fino Payments Bank Limited for provision of Bank as Payment Aggregator (BAPA) by entering into multiple agreements with various resellers/program managers; that said M/s. Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and M/s.
Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited were created to provide online real money gaming services through various websites and mobile applications in the guise of providing various supplied as IT services, garments etc., however, they have not paid the applicable Goods and Service Tax @ 28% on the online gaming services so provided, and M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited played a prominent role in the syndicate engaged in operating illegal online real money gaming platforms thereby causing Goods and Service Tax evasion; that during investigation M/s. Oceanique Web Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT
Hub Solutions Private Limited were found to be engaged in providing online real money gaming services through websites and mobile applications without issuing invoices and without declaring actual turnover in their Goods and
Service Tax returns; that upon verification of GSTR2A of M/s. Oceanique Web
Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited, it is noticed that the services were received mainly from M/s. Fino Payments Bank
Limited; that during the investigation certain digital evidence have been seized that reveal nexus between executives of M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited and key persons associated with online gaming syndicate; that during the course of
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investigation summons dated: 07.03.2026, 16.03.2026, and 23.07.2026 were issued to the petitioner/accused to tender oral evidence and be present before the individual and seek his opinion on the seized digital evidence, but he failed to comply with the said summons, and he has been consistently seeking time to appear thereby causing delay in the ongoing investigation; and that the data pertaining to 177 merchants were already sought from M/s. Fino Payments Bank
Limited by Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Hyderabad Zonal Unit providing summons to said Rishi Gupta dated: 14.02.2026, 18.02.2026 and 26.02.2026 and the same was reiterated in the summons dated: 07.03.2026 issued to the petitioner/accused as such the contention of the petitioner/ accused that massive data was sought in short time is not true.
5. Perused the materials available on record.
6. Now, the point for consideration is:
Whether the petitioner/accused can be granted pre-arrest bail ?
POINT:
7.According to petitioner/accused issuance and service of summons dated:
07.03.2026 and 16.03.2026 via e-mails upon him by the Superintendent/
Appraiser/Senior Intelligence Officer namely Chettupalli Sandeep Raj requiring him to produce documents and also to tender oral evidence, and arrest of co-accused Rishi Gupta, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of M/s.
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Fino Payments Bank Limited inspite of supply of digital copy of information in reply to the two summons sent to the non-operational e-mail addresses of the said Rishi Gupta by one Vivek Kapur, and issuance of said summons in breach of
Directorate General of GST Intelligence Guidelines for conducting investigation in certain cases dated: 08.02.2024 and Guidelines on Issuance of Summons of
Goods and Service Tax-Investigation Wing dated: 17.08.2022 constitute pivotal reasons for the petitioner/accused to believe that he may be arrested on the accusation of committing an offence punishable under section 132(1)(i)(ii) of the
Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017.
8.The learned counsel for the petitioner/accused relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India reported in (2011) 1 SCC 694 between
Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre Vs. State of Maharashtra and others in para no.90 wherein it is held that A great ignominy, humiliation and disgrace is attached to the arrest. Arrest leads to many serious consequences not only for the accused but for the entire family and at time for the entire community. Most people do not make any distinction between arrest at a pre-conviction stage or post-conviction stage.
9.The petitioner/accused as well as the respondent/complainant have produced copy of summons issued to the petitioner on 07.03.2026 and 16.03.2026. Summons dated: 07.03.2026 requires the petitioner/accused
(a) to give evidence and/or
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(b) produce documents or things of the following description in his possession or under his control confirming:
1. if any of the merchants/entities in Annexure A are provided any payment services by M/s. Fino Payments Bank at any point of time.
2. if any of the program managers in Annexure B have taken payment aggregator services for any of their merchants/entities at any point of time. For merchants in Annexure A and program managers in Annexure B please give program manager wise merchant entity name, GSTIN, PAN, Sales Volume (Month wise) from 01.10.2023 to 28.02.2026, payout bank account numbers (including the current account) and ifsc code, pay in transaction details for one day i.e., 01.01.2026 for each of the merchant entity indicating the UPI ID, Date, Time and the amount of transaction.
3.Tender oral evidence, and to appear before said Chettupalli Sandeep Raj in person or by an authorized representative on 09.03.2026 at 11.00 A.M. at the office of the respondent/complainant in Hyderabad.
10.Summons dated: 16.03.2026 requires the petitioner/accused
(a) to give evidence and/or
(b) produce documents or things of the following description in his possession or under his control:
1. Sales Turnovers of all Merchants listed in Annexure A (177 Padizone Merchants) who are onboarded on M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited (cumilative i.e., adding up of sales through multiple resellers) from 01.10.2023 to 28.02.2026 clearly indicating GSTIN, Sales volume month wise, the reseller wise break up and Bank account number.
2. Sales Turnovers of all Merchants who are onboarded on any of the resellers (resellers who have onboarded any of the merchants listed in Annexure A) from 01.10.2023 to 28.02.2026 clearly indicating GSTIN, Sales volume month wise, the reseller wise break up and Bank account number. Payer UPI ID wise inward receipts indicating the amount and date for
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01.01.2026 for all the aforesaid merchants (with clear reseller wise break up).
3.Tender oral evidence, and to appear before said Chettupalli Sandeep Raj in person or by an authorized representative on 23.03.2026 at 11.00 A.M. at the office of the respondent/ complainant in Hyderabad.
11.The respondent/complainant has filed copy of the replies dated:
09.03.2026 and 23.03.2026 sent by the petitioner/accused through e-mails to said Chettupalli Sandeep Raj. In his reply dated: 09.03.2026 the petitioner/ accused acknowledged the receipt of first summons dated 07.03.2026, however, he contends that he saw the said summons during his office hours on 09.03.20216 and submits that the said summons is not clear about nature of inquiry vis-a-vis his role, and relevance of the information that is needed from him apart from data required, and that since the said summons reads vaguely as such he is not in a position to assist efficiently in the inquiry, and thereby he requests to provide him a letter with specific details that are needed from him, and he seeks two weeks’ time to visit said Chettupalli Sandeep Raj for any other requirement than data which is being provided. The petitioner/accused also submits in the said reply that majority of the information sought for in the first summons has already been shared by M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited.
12.In his reply dated: 23.03.2026 the petitioner/accused also acknowledges the receipt of second summons dated: 16.03.2026 and submits that his mother-
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in-law is going through a critical surgery that was scheduled much prior to the receipt of said summons as such he needs additional 10 days’ to be physically present apart from further reiterating the contents of his reply to the first summons that majority of the information sought for in the first summons has already been shared by M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited. In the said reply to the second summons the petitioner/accused further submits that since there is new request in the Government inquiry and the data is voluminous in nature, it requires data recovery and work of multiple teams to collate the data for submission and careful validation and the same takes due time.
13.During the course of arguments the learned counsel for the petitioner/accused has produced a pen drive and a copy of e-mail dated:
06.04.2026 sent by the petitioner/accused to said Chettupalli Sandeep Raj along with a memo reporting that the petitioner/accused furnished documents containing details of all the merchants onboarded by the program managers for the period from October, 2023 to February, 2026, and transaction details of all merchants as sought by the respondent/complainant, by attaching to the said e- mail.
14.On perusal of summons dated: 07.03.2026 and 16.03.2026 sent to the petitioner/accused it is noticed that the respondent/complainant is not only requiring the petitioner/accused to appear in person or by authorized representative to produce the documents but also require him to tender oral
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evidence. As per the contents of the counter filed on behalf of the respondent/complainant, the respondent/complainant is seeking appearance of the petitioner/accused for his comments on seized digital evidence revealing nexus between executives of M/s. Fino Payments Bank Limited and key persons associated with online gaming syndicate. Therefore, mere furnishing of documents as sought by the respondent/complainant under the said e-mail
dated 06.04.2026 will not suffice and dispense with attendance of the
petitioner/accused before the said officer of the respondent/complainant.
15.According to the averments of para 22 of the petition even if all the materials relied upon by the respondent/complainant against the said Rishi
Gupta is considered as whole, the same does not establish any role of the petitioner/accused in the Goods and Service Tax evasion by M/s. Oceanique Web
Solutions Private Limited and M/s. Webwin IT Hub Solutions Private Limited.
When such is the case then arrest of said Rishi Gupta on 27.02.2026 inspite of alleged supplying of digital copy of information to the respondent/complainant in pursuance of the summons dated: 14.02.2026 and 18.02.2026 to the alleged non-operational e-mail address ought not to have given rise to any apprehension to the petitioner/accused of arrest.
16.Admittedly the petitioner/accused did not attend before said Chettupalli
Sandeep Raj, Superintendent/Appraiser/Senior Intelligence Officer in due compliance of first and second summons dated: 07.03.2026 and 16.03.2026
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respectively inspite seeking time to appear in his replies dated: 09.03.2026 and 23.03.2026. Per contra the petitioner/accused avoided compliance of first summons by mentioning in his reply dated: 09.03.2026 that the said summons is vague as the same does not disclose the nature of inquiry vis-a-vis his role and the relevance of the information that is needed from him apart from data required. The petitioner/accused contends that he challenged validity of first summons before the Hon’ble High Court, but the writ petition was disposed of without going into the merits of the matter in issue. It is not the case of the petitioner/accused that he also challenged the validity of second summons issued by said Chettupalli Sandeep Raj, Superintendent/Appraiser/Senior
Intelligence Officer. Considering limited scope of the instant petition, the issues raised before this Court challenging validity of first summons as issued in violation of Directorate General of GST Intelligence Guidelines for conducting investigation in certain cases dated: 08.02.2024 and Guidelines on Issuance of
Summons of Goods and Service Tax-Investigation Wing dated: 17.08.2022, does not fall for direct adjudication before this Court.
17.The summons dated: 07.03.2026 and 16.03.2026 clearly indicate that personal attendance of the petitioner/accused or his authorized representative is sought in connection with making inquiry regarding investigation of non- payment of Goods and Service Tax on supply of taxable services under the
Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Instead of attending before the said
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Chettupalli Sandeep Raj in person or through his authorized representative in due compliance of first and second summons for co-operating with the respondent/complainant in ongoing investigation in spite of seeking time to appear, the petitioner/accused under the guise of issuance and service of first and second summons to him is making an attempt to cocoon himself by approaching this Court seeking pre-arrest bail. It is also not the case of the petitioner/accused that after failing to appear post issuance and service of first and second summons, the respondent/complainant resorted to coercive action against him for securing his attendance.
18.In view of foregoing appreciation of the facts of this case this Court find that the apprehension of arrest of petitioner/accused put forth before this Court by the petitioner/accused is not real, but imaginary. Therefore, this petition is found to be devoid of merits and same is liable to be dismissed. This point is answered against the petitioner/accused and in favour of the respondent/ complainant.
19.In the result, this criminal miscellaneous petition is dismissed.
Dictated to the Stenographer-Gr1, transcribed and typed by her, and corrected and pronounced by me
in the open Court on this the 18 th day of May, 2026.
Sd/-
FAC SPL. JUDGE FOR TRIAL OF
CASES UNDER ECONOMIC OFFENCES
HYDERABAD