David George vs State Of Kerala

Dr Kauser Edappagath, J

All these bail applications have been filed u/s 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail.

The petitioner is the accused No.5 in Crime Nos.1057/2022, 1054/2022, 1055/2022, 1050/2022 and 1048/2022 of Koipuram Police Station, Pathanamthitta. In all the above crimes, the offences alleged are punishable under Sections 420, 409 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 5 of The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act.

The allegation in all the cases against the petitioner is that he 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 offences.

Heard both sides and perused the case diary.

The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is absolutely innocent and he has been falsely implicated in the present case. He further submitted that there are no materials to connect the petitioner with the alleged crime and hence he is entitled to get bail. The learned Public Prosecutor opposed the bail applications. She contended that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the petitioner and if the petitioner is released on bail at this stage, it would affect the course of investigation.

The petitioner has a definite case that he is only an employee of the financial institutions run by other accused who are its Directors. The institution has 43 branches. According to the petitioner, he is one of the employees of one of the branches. His specific contention is that he has resigned from the service one year prior to the registration of the above crimes. The petitioner was arrested on 26.6.2023 in the crimes pertaining to B.A.Nos. 6109/23, 6113/23, 6083/2023 and he was arrested on 3.2.2023 and 5.7.2023 in respect of the crimes pertaining to the B.A.Nos. 6112/23 and 6092/23 respectively.

In view of the nature of the crimes and the stage of investigation, I do not find any reason to hold that the continued detention of the petitioner is required for any purpose. The investigation seems to have reached a fair stage. For all these reasons, the petitioner is entitled to be released on bail on conditions.

In the result, all the bail applications are allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) The petitioner shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Magistrate/Court in each case.

(ii) The petitioner shall fully co-operate with the investigation.

(iii) The petitioner shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m on every Saturday until further orders. The petitioner shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required by him.

(iv) The petitioner shall not commit any offence of like nature while on bail.

(v) The petitioner shall not make any attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.

(vi) The petitioner shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.