Grounds of arrest must be explained to arrested person – GST revised Instruction/guidelines

Grounds of arrest must be explained to the arrested person and also furnished to him in writing – CBIC revised guidelines for arrest and bail under GST laws.

GST Investigation Wing of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has vide Instruction No. 01/2025-GST dated 13.01.2025 issued guidelines for arrest and bail for offences punishable under CGST Act, 2017.

The guideline provides that the grounds of arrest must be explained to the arrested person and also furnished to him in writing as an Annexure to the Arrest Memo. Acknowledgement of the same should be taken from the arrested person at the time of service of the Arrest Memo.

The Instruction is pursuant to the judgment of the High Court of Delhi which has held that the grounds of arrest have to be communicated in writing to the arrested person. In coming to this conclusion, the Hon’ble High Court has relied on the judgements of Hon’ble Supreme Court.

To remove any doubt, the guidelines also underline the difference between ‘reasons for arrest’ and ‘grounds of arrest’ made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. It was held by the Apex Court that the ‘reasons for arrest ‘as indicated in the arrest memo are purely formal parameters, viz., to prevent the accused person from committing any further offence; or proper investigation of the offence; to prevent the accused person from causing the evidence of the offence to disappear or tempering with such evidence in any manner; to prevent the arrested person for making inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to the Investigating Officer. These reasons would comnmonly apply to any person arrested on charge of a crime whereas the ‘grounds of arrest ‘ would be required to contain all such details in hand of the Investigating Officer which necessitated the arrest of the accused. Simultaneously, the grounds of arrest informed in writing must convey to the arrested accused all basic facts on which he was being arrested so as to provide him an opportunity of defending himself against custodial remand and to seek bail. Thus, the ‘grounds of arrest’ would invariably be personal to the accused and cannot be equated with the reasons of arrest which are general in nature.

The previous Instruction 02/2022-23 GST (Investigation) dated 17.8.2022 has been amended accordingly.

Download Instruction No. 01/2025-GST Click Here >>

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