The Jharkhand High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a person for committing irregularities in hospital & research centre accounts by using his own Paytm QR code for receiving amounts.

The bench of Justice Rajesh Shankar has observed that the petitioner is directed to surrender before the concerned Court below within a period of three weeks. If he surrenders before the Court below within the period, he shall be released on bail on furnishing bail-bond of Rs. 20,000 with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Jamshedpur.

The petitioner/accused was falsely implicated in the case and has not committed any offence as alleged in the F.I.R. As per the allegation, a consortium agreement was executed between the petitioner and the informant for operating ‘’Daya Hospital & Research Centre’’ and a pharmaceutical shop, namely, ‘’Daya Pharma’’, both situated at Jamshedpur.

The petitioner started paying Rs.1-1.5 Lakh per month as a share of the gross revenue received from the customers/patients, however, as per the informant’s vast experience of running the business, the monthly share of the gross revenue should have been Rs.3 Lakh. On being asked by the informant to show the accounts, the petitioner told him that the said establishment was running in loss.

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However, the informant came to know from his sources that the said establishment was earning profit and the petitioner was keeping the profit amount with himself. The petitioner was getting the earnings transferred to his bank account as well as to the bank account of his wife. He was directly receiving money from the customers/patients through his own Paytm QR code without mentioning the same in the accounts book and thus he misappropriated an amount of Rs.58,94,795/-.

The accused contended that the FIR has been lodged only with a motive to recover the amount which is said to be due with the petitioner. Even if the entire story made out in the written report of the informant is taken to be true, the same gives rise to civil consequence i.e. for recovery of due amount, however, it has been given colour of a criminal case.

The accused argued that consortium agreement executed between the petitioner and the informant, it has been stipulated that unless a higher percentage is agreed in a separate agreement, the second party i.e. the petitioner acknowledges and agrees that he will only be liable to pay 30% of gross revenue received from the customers/patients to the first party which shall be exclusive of GST . The petitioner used to pay 30% of the gross revenue received from the customers/patients i.e. Rs.1-1.5 Lakh per month whereas according to the informant, the petitioner was required to pay about Rs.3 Lakh per month which was equivalent to 30% of the gross revenue. The petitioner had violated any term and condition of the agreement, there was already a stipulation that in such a situation, he would take recourse of mediation/arbitration, however, instead of taking the recourse, the informant maliciously instituted the present FIR. The petitioner however undertakes to cooperate in the ongoing investigation. Hence, he may be given the privilege of anticipatory bail.

The complainant contended that the petitioner had committed fraud. As per the audit report of the accounts of ‘’Daya Hospital & Research Centre’’, Jamshedpur, it also surfaced that he was receiving the amounts deposited by the customers/patients in his bank account using his own Paytm QR code. The petitioner was also found committing various irregularities in maintaining the accounts of the said hospital & research centre.

The court granted anticipatory bail to the accused/petitioner.

Case Title: Md. Shahid Akbar Versus The State of Jharkhand

Case No.: A. B. A. No. 773 of 2024

Date: 03.09.2024

Counsel For Petitioner: Rishav Kumar

Counsel For Respondent: N. K. Ganjhu, A. K. Chaturvedi

Read Order