MUMBAI, Oct. 2 -- The Esplanade Judicial Magistrate court recently granted bail to Panvel-based businessman Nandlal Pandurang Uike, who was arrested on August 25 for allegedly committing Goods and Services Tax (GST) fraud involving Rs.60 crore in fake invoices and wrongful input tax credit (ITC) of Rs.10.68 crore. The additional chief judicial magistrate SK Fokmare passed the order last week, holding that Uike's further detention was unwarranted. "The custodial interrogation is already completed and therefore now there is no necessity to keep the accused behind bars," the court observed. Uike, proprietor of M/s SP Machiners and Services, argued that he had been falsely implicated. The absconding co-accused, Rajesh Mourya and Sunil Parate, have misused his login credentials, claimed Uike. His counsel, Nitin Kamble, submitted that the case was "based only on documentary evidence" already seized by investigators, leaving no scope for further custodial interrogation. The prosecution stressed the gravity of the charges, relying on a Supreme Court ruling that "economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in a matter of bail." It also alleged that Uike had facilitated bogus transactions, including those related to "tele-communication mobile top-up vouchers," and had received Rs.50,000 from Mourya through bank transfers. Rejecting these objections, the court noted that while the allegations were serious, "no purpose would be served by keeping the applicant/accused behind bars till submission of charge-sheet/complaint." It added that the absconding status of the co-accused "cannot be the ground for rejection of the bail application of the present accused, when he has cooperated in the investigation." In its reasoning, the court highlighted that offences under the GST Act, though serious, are "subject to certain restrictions of a compoundable nature" and that the powers of prosecution are "ancillary and incidental to the power to levy and collect Goods and Services Tax." Uike was ordered to be released on a personal bond of Rs.2 lakh with sureties, with a provisional option to furnish cash bail in the same amount for a period of two months....