Ravi Cheemalapati, J.

1. This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, 'Cr.P.C.'), seeking anticipatory bail, by the petitioner/A-22 in Cr. No. 24 of 2021 of CID Police Station, Mangalagiri, Amaravati, Guntur District, registered for the offence punishable under Sections 166, 167, 418, 465, 468, 471, 409, 506 r/w. 120-B of Indian Penal Code and Section 13(2) r/w. 13(1)(C)(D) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

2. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that, basing on the report dated 16.07.2021 lodged by the Managing Director, A.P. State Fiber Net Limited the present crime was registered. In the said report, it was alleged that the Chairman, APSFL submitted a report complaining illegalities in awarding the tender of AP Fiber phase-II alleging that one Vemuri Hari Krishna Prasad, who was appointed as member of tender evaluation committee colluded with M/s. Tera Software Limited, officials of APSFL and Government of Andhra Pradesh and illegally awarded Rs. 321 crores to M/s. Tera Software limited though it lacked requisite qualifications. The petitioner is arrayed as A-22 and the accusation made against the petitioner/A-22 is that he was director of M/s. Gemini Communications Limited and it being the lowest tenderer was selected to be the Project Monitoring Agency and as per the tender it shall evaluate the tender work done by the implementing agency, but the petitioner's company without proper evaluation of the work done by the tenderer issued false and fake commissioning certificates and thus facilitated the Implementing Agency to draw funds from Government and thus became part in commission of offence. Subsequently, the matter was entrusted to Crime investigation with regard to irregularities.

3. Heard Sri Kilaru Nithin Krishna, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri T.M.K. Chaitanya, learned Special Public Prosecutor for CID.

4. Sri Kilaru Nithin Krishna, learned counsel for the petitioner/A-22 would submit that, the petitioner was Member of suspended Board of Directors of M/s. Gemini Communication Limited, which was under Liquidation. The petitioner's Company was one of the top leading companies across the nation in providing services such as Network, Network Security, IT consulting etc., and as the company suffered heavy losses it went into insolvency in the year 2016.

The learned counsel would further submit that the petitioner did not commit any offence much less the offence alleged by the prosecution.

The learned counsel would further submit that, initially, the petitioner was not shown as an accused and he was served with a notice under Section 160 Cr.P.C. and accordingly he appeared before the Investigating Agency and the Investigating Agency pressurized A-21, who was the Managing Director of the Company, to make false and frivolous allegations against the petitioner and then the petitioner was implicated and he was shown as accused No. 22 in this crime.

The learned counsel would further submit that all the relevant documents relating to the Company are in possession of A-21 and the Investigating Agency can also get the documents from NCLT, Chennai.

The learned counsel would further submit that the co-accused A-1, A-11 were granted pre-arrest bail by this Court and the Managing Director of M/s. Gemini Communications Limited (A-21) was granted regular bail.

The learned counsel for the petitioner would further submit that material part of the investigation was completed and the custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not required.

On the above contentions, the learned counsel for the petitioner prayed for grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioner.

5. Sri T.M.K. Chaitanya, learned Special Public Prosecutor for CID would submit that the petitioner/A-22 is one of the Directors of M/s. Gemini Communication Limited, which was appointed as Project Monitoring Agency with a responsibility to oversee the work done by the Implementing Agency and issue Commissioning Certificates.

The learned Special Public Prosecutor would further submit that the petitioner's company in order to help the Implementing Agency had issued false certificates and caused heavy loss to the State exchequer.

The learned Special Public Prosecutor would further submit that the accused have committed economic offence involving hundreds of crores of rupees and the Investigating Agency is trying to unearth the intricate issues involved in this crime.

The learned Special Public Prosecutor would further submit that investigation is in progress and hence this is not the stage to extend the benefit of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner/A-22 at this stage.

On the above contentions, the learned Special Public Prosecutor for CID opposed the bail application and prayed to dismiss the petition.

6. The material available on record would show that M/s. Gemini Communication Limited Company became a successful bidder and was selected as Project Monitoring Agency. The petitioner is one of the Directors, while his brother (A-21) was its Managing Director. M/s. Terra Software Limited was the implementing Agency. The petitioner's company shall verify quality and quantity of the work done by the implementing Agency and would issue commissioning certificates and basing on the said certifications, the implementing Agency will raise invoices for release of funds. As per the prosecution, the petitioner's company issued certificates inflating the actual work done by the Implementing Agency and thus facilitated it to raise invoices for higher amounts than they really entitled to and thus the petitioner's company involved in the conspiracy of cheating, forging and fabricating the documents.

7. It is also evident from the material and the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner that M/s. Gemini Communication Limited, due to financial setbacks, went into liquidation and the National Company Law Tribunal has appointed Liquidator and the powers of the Board of Directors of the company ceased and they stood vested in the liquidator. Thus, there is no force in the contention of the learned Special Public Prosecutor that the petitioner/A-22 may cause disappearance of the material evidence.

8. The material would further goes to show that the co-accused, A-1, A-11, who are director of M/s. Tera Software Limited-the Implementing Agency, have been granted bail by a coordinate bench of this Court vide Crl.P. Nos. 5374 and 5235 of 2021 respectively. Further, according to the learned counsel for the petitioner, which was not disputed by the learned Special Public Prosecutor for CID, the co-accused/A-21, who was the Managing Director of M/s. Gemini Communication Limited, was granted regular bail.

9. Taking into consideration of the fact that A-1, A-11, who are director of M/s. Tera Software Limited-the Implementing Agency, have been granted pre-arrest bail and also the fact that A-21, who was the Managing Director of the Project Monitoring Agency, was also granted regular bail, this Court deems it proper to extend the benefit of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner. However, keeping in view the fact that economic offence are involved in the present crime, the apprehension of the learned Special Public Prosecutor regarding tampering of the evidence and threatening witnesses by the petitioner will have be taken care of by imposing appropriate conditions on the petitioner.

10. In view of the above, this Criminal Petition is allowed. The petitioner/A-22 shall be enlarged on bail in the event of his arrest in connection with Crime No. 24 of 2021 of CID Police Station, Mangalagiri, Guntur District, on his executing a bond for a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh only) with two sureties for a like sum each to the satisfaction of the Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases, Vijayawada.

(ii) On release, the petitioner shall appear before the Station House Officer, CID Police Station, Mangalagiri Guntur once in a week i.e. every Sunday between 9.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. till charge sheet is filed.

(iii) The petitioner shall not make any attempt to tamper with the prosecution evidence. He shall make himself available to the investigating officer whenever required by them to facilitate proper investigation in this case.

(iv) The petitioner shall not leave the country without prior permission of the Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases, Vijayawada.

The petitioner shall scrupulously comply with the above conditions and any infraction thereof will be viewed seriously and it also entails cancellation of bail and in such case prosecution shall move appropriate application for such cancellation.