Abdul Malik vs State Of Kerala

Viju Abraham, J.

This is an application for anticipatory bail.

Petitioner is the 6th accused in O.R. No.16 of 2021 of Mannamangalam Forest Station under the Pattikkad Forest Range, Thrissur District. The offences alleged against him along with accused Nos.1 to 5 & 7 to 9 are punishable under Sections 9, 39[1](a)(d) & [3](a) (b), 57 and 51[1] of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.

The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 25.10.2021, the Pattikkad Forest Range Officer and his party found 5 persons in a red-coloured Maruti Alto car and they were found in possession of an Indian sand boa. The forest officers arrested 4 among them and seized their mobile phones, the Alto car and also the said sand boa. One among them named Munna ran away and escaped. The above OR got registered accordingly by arraying the arrested persons Siddique, Anil Kumar, Santhosh & Ramkumar as accused 1 to 4 respectively. On questioning them, it was revealed that the sand boa was brought to the place by the said Munna who got it from one Ashraf and the petitioner. It was also revealed that 2 other persons named Nibin and Salesh were waiting in an Innova car at the nearby place. But, the forest officers could not arrest them. The said Ashraf got arrayed as the 5th accused, petitioner as the 6th accused and Nibin, Munna and Salesh as the accused Nos.7 to 9 respectively in the case. The petitioner is totally innocent in the case. He got falsely implicated as the 6th accused in the case only based on the alleged information furnished by the arrested accused persons. If at all any such information was given by them, it is a false information. The petitioner was never in possession of any sand boa and there was no occasion for him to give such a sand boa to anyone as alleged.

Learned Public Prosecutor opposed the application for bail mainly contending that the petitioner is the mastermind behind the crime. He has made all the preparations, and it is in fact the petitioner and one Ashraf who handed over the Indian sand boa to the 7th accused. The learned Public Prosecutor further submits that Red sand boa is illegally smuggled abroad and due to the said activity the snake is at the verge of extinction. The said snake fetches huge amount in the black market. Investigation so far revealed that the petitioner is accused of preparation, planning, unauthorized collection, possession and trade of the snake and therefore, custodial interrogation of the petitioner is very much necessary. This Court as per interim order dated 16.11.2022 has passed an order directing that the petitioner shall surrender before the investigating officer on 22.11.2022 and subject himself to interrogation. It was also directed that the petitioner should co-operate with the investigation. Learned Public Prosecutor upon instructions submitted that the petitioner appeared before the investigating officer on 01.12.2022 but he was not ready to co-operate with the investigation, and he informed that he needs 1 month’s time for co-operating with the investigation as he is suffering from vertigo and low back pain.

The allegation against the petitioner is very serious who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the commission of the above crime. I find considerable force in the contention of the learned Public Prosecutor that custodial interrogation of the petitioner is required for the purpose of the investigation. Though this Court has granted protection from arrest and directed the petitioner to appear before the investigating officer and co-operate with the investigation, the learned Public Prosecutor upon instructions submitted that the petitioner has not co-operated with the investigation. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case as stated above, I am not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner, and therefore the bail application is disposed of as follows:-

It is for the petitioner to surrender before the investigating officer and co-operate with the investigation. In the event of arrest of the petitioner, he shall be produced before the jurisdictional Magistrate on the very same day. If an application for bail is filed with advance copy to the Public Prosecutor, the jurisdictional Magistrate may consider the bail application preferably on the very same day. Taking into consideration the contention of the petitioner that he is not well, he is granted two weeks time from today to surrender before the investigating officer and therefore it is ordered that the order “not to arrest the petitioner” shall continue for a further period of two weeks from today.