David George vs State Of Kerala

Viju Abraham, J.

These are applications for regular bail.

The Petitioner is the 5th accused in Crime No. 1885/2022 in B.A. No. 351/2023, Crime No. 1956/2022 in B.A. No. 352/2023, Crime No. 1994/2022 in B.A. No. 360/2023 and in Crime No. 1893/2022 in B.A. No. 364/2023 of Thiruvalla Police Station, Pathanamthitta district alleging commission of offences punishable under Sections 420 and 406 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3, 4 and 5 read with 21(2)(3), 22, 23, 25 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act.

Essentially the allegation against the petitioner is that the accused induced the defacto complainants with a promise of higher rate of interest and received deposits and thereafter failed to return the amounts and thereby committed the alleged offences.

The petitioner submitted that he was in custody in connection with another crime from 01.12.2022 onwards and that his arrest was recorded in all these cases on 26.12.2022. Petitioner has a specific case that he is only an employee of the institution run by accused Nos. 1 to 4 and that he has resigned from the job on 13.03.2021. The institution has 43 branches and petitioner is only an employee of one of the branches of the institution and he has acted only in accordance with the directions of the directors of the institution. Petitioner has never cheated the defacto complainants received any amount from them. The amount allegedly deposited by the defacto complainants is not to the personal account of the petitioner, rather they deposited in the bank account of the institution to which the petitioner has no right or access. Petitioner submitted that he has been granted bail in similar cases as is evident from Annexure A2 order and also in B.A. No. 10353/2022. Petitioner further submitted that he is a patient of nerve disorder.

The learned Public Prosecutor opposed the application for bail mainly contending that petitioner is involved in several other cases of similar nature.

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and nature of the allegation, I am inclined to grant bail to the petitioner.

In the result, these bail applications are allowed and it is ordered that the petitioner shall be released on bail on the following stringent 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;

(ii) The petitioner shall appear before the investigating officer in the above said crimes of Thiruvalla Police Station on all Saturdays at 11 AM for a period of six months;

(iii) The petitioner shall not attempt to interfere with the investigation or to influence any witness in the above said crime;

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

(v) The petitioner shall not leave the State of Kerala without obtaining prior permission from the jurisdictional Court.

(vi) The petitioner shall surrender his passport before the jurisdictional Court. If the petitioner does not have a passport, he shall execute an affidavit to that effect and file the same before the said court within seven days of release on bail;

If any of the aforesaid conditions are violated, the investigating officer in the above said crimes of Thiruvalla Police Station, may file an application before the jurisdictional court, for cancellation of bail.