Divakaran K K vs State Of Kerala

Dr. Kauser Edappagath, J

This application is filed u/s 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking pre-arrest bail.

The applicant is the accused No.5 in Crime No.25/CB/TSR/D/2022 of Thrissur Crime Branch Unit Police Station. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 406, 420, 409, 465, 468, 471, 423, 120B read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13(1)(c), (d) read with 13(2) and 13(1)(a) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short 'the PC Act'). He is the former president of the Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank.

The prosecution case, in short, is that the accused Nos. 1 to 3 who are the office bearers of the Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank created forged documents and availed loan on the basis of the said forged documents in the name of the defacto complainant and thereafter committed criminal breach of trust and cheated him. During investigation, the petitioner was arrayed as the accused No.5 and the offence under the PC Act was also added.

I have heard Sri. K.R. Arun Krishnan, the learned counsel for the applicant and Smt. S. Rekha, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

The learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicant with the alleged crime; hence, he is entitled to get bail. The learned Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicant, and if he is released on bail at this stage, it will affect the course of the investigation.

As stated already, initially the crime was registered against the accused Nos. 1 to 3 alone. There are altogether 16 cases with similar allegations. The applicant was arrayed as the accused in all the 16 cases. It is submitted that he was already granted regular bail in 11 cases. The applicant is aged 77 years. Even going by the prosecution case, the applicant has not appropriated the loan amount. The allegation levelled against the applicant is that he without perusing the genuineness of the documents produced, the loan was sanctioned. Considering the allegations levelled against the applicant, his custodial interrogation does not appear to be necessary. For these reasons, it is a fit case where pre-arrest bail can be granted to the applicant.

In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) The applicant shall be released on bail in the event of his arrest 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 arresting officer/investigating officer, as the case may be.

(ii) The applicant shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting himself to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as and when demanded.

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

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

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

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

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.