David Dias vs State Of Kerala

Viju Abraham, J

This is an application for regular bail.

The petitioner is accused No.2 in Crime No.773/2022 of Aluva East Police Station, alleging commission of offence punishable under Sections 170, 419, 342, 395, 120B, 402, 216A and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The prosecution allegation is that, on 05.06.2022, at 11.45 PM, accused Nos.1 to 4 trespassed into the house of the defacto complainant, by impersonating them as income tax officers. They wrongfully confined the defacto complainant’s wife and son at the ground floor of the house and took away the mobile phones of the defacto complainant. It was alleged that the accused committed theft of Rs.1,80,000/- and 394 grams of gold ornaments worth Rs.19,00,000/- kept in the Almarah of the bedroom and also taken the DVR of the CCTV. Apart from that, the accused took away the passbook, cheque book, PAN Card and income tax related documents of the defacto complainant and thus, committed the aforesaid offence.

The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the above said crime and that he is in custody from 01.07.2022 onwards. It is further submitted that the defacto complainant defrauded the petitioner and other persons and in connection with the same, a crime has been registered as Crime No.60/2022 before the Vasco Police Station, South Goa as is evident from Annexure-1 copy of the FIR. Though the petitioner moved an application for bail before the Sessions Court, Ernakulam, the same was dismissed as per Annexure-II.

The learned Public Prosecutor upon instructions submitted that the petitioner has an active role in the commission of offence, but submitted that the petitioner has no other criminal antecedents.

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the nature of the allegations and considering the fact that the petitioner is in custody from 01.07.2022 onwards and he has no other criminal antecedents, I am inclined to grant bail to the petitioner subject to stringent conditions. In the result, the bail application is allowed. It is directed that the petitioner shall be released on bail, subject to the following conditions:

(i) The petitioner shall execute a bond for a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only) with two solvent sureties each for the like-sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court and one of the sureties shall be a native of State of Kerala.

(ii)The Petitioner shall appear before the investigating officer in Crime No.773/2022 of Aluva East Police Station, once in a month at 11 am, until filing of final report;

(iii) The petitioner shall not attempt to interfere with the investigation or to influence or intimidate the defacto complainant or any witness in Crime No.773/2022 of Aluva East Police Station;

(iv) The petitioner shall not involve in any other crime while on bail.

(v) Petitioner shall furnish his contact address and contact number to the investigating officer.

If any of the aforesaid conditions are violated, the investigating officer in Crime No.773/2022 of Aluva East Police Station, may file an application before the jurisdictional court.