Mumbai: CBI Special Court Declares Arrest Of CGST Joint Commissioner, Dibrugarh, Illegal; Orders Release

Mumbai: In a setback to the CBI, the agency’s special court has ordered the release of Rahul Kumar, the joint commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), Dibrugarh, Assam, after considering the allegations of illegal arrest and violation of guidelines set for arrest.

Kumar was arrested last week in connection with a case lodged for illegally detaining a businessman from Goregaon, Karan Rawal, and extorting money from him in August. The CBI arrested Kumar on Thursday evening (Oct 24) at 8pm from Dibrugarh and produced him before the special court in Guwahati the next day, where the CBI sought his transit remand to bring him to Mumbai where the case is lodged.

On Saturday, the prosecution sought his custody for interrogation for five days. The plea was opposed by Kumar’s lawyers Mudit Jain and Rahul Agarwal. It was claimed that the agency did not provide a mandatory notice under the new law before the arrest and also failed to provide ‘grounds of arrest’, which were provided to him only on Friday (Oct 25), that too only orally. The court, however, considered the defence plea and ordered Kumar’s release on the ground that the CBI official had not followed the guidelines at the time of arrest.

Why Was Rahul Kumar Arrested?

Kumar, a resident of Mumbai, was arrested for allegedly being a part of criminal conspiracy with the Mumbai office, related to Rawal’s detention and extortion through WhatsApp and Facetime. It is claimed that Rawal, of M/s Onyx Pharma, had received a summons on August 28, from Sachin Gokulka, CGST superintendent (Santacruz West), with regards to a transaction.

On September 4, Rawal visited his office at 4 pm where Gokulka and other officials allegedly misbehaved with him after questioning him for 10-15 minutes. Rawal was detained for 18 hours and allowed after several hours to contact his wife to convey that he was fine. During this time, Gokulka allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 80 lakh for his release. Rawal was allegedly allowed to contact his cousin for help but he refused. He was allowed to leave after his chartered accountant arrived on September 5 at 8 am.

When he reached home, his cousin Harshil Doshi told him that he had contacted his chartered accountant in the night to settle the issue with GST officials, who demanded Rs 60 lakh, of which Rs 30 lakh was allegedly paid on the promise that the rest would be paid subsequently. Rawal then approached the CBI, which after due verification set up a trap on September 6 and arrested Gokulka and two others. Kumar was arrested last week for being in contact with them on social media to allegedly orchestrate the detention and extortion.