Jijo Babu vs State Of Kerala

Shircy V, J

Application for regular bail.

The petitioner, who is arraigned as the 3rd accused in Crime No.902/2021 of Palarivattom Police Station, Ernakulam District registered for the offences punishable under Sections 406 and 420 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code, has preferred this application for his release on bail.

The petitioner has been in custody since 08.10.2021.

The prosecution allegation is that, the accused have approached the defacto complainant and promised that they could arrange a job for her in South Indian Bank and received a sum of Rs.3.5 lakhs but they could not arrange any job as promised and thereby committed the aforesaid offences.

According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, he is totally innocent of the allegations levelled against him. In fact, he was only working as a helper in the residence of the accused Nos.1 and 2 and he had absolutely no transaction with the defacto complainant.

But the said argument is refuted by the learned Public Prosecutor contending that a sum of Rs.50,000/- had been transferred in the account of this petitioner by the 1st accused and so he had active participation in committing the offence. It is also pointed out by the learned Public Prosecutor that he is having criminal antecedents as he is involved in a similar offence registered before the Kanjikuzhy Police Station.

The 1st accused in this case had already been arrested and released on bail. Now the investigation of the case has progressed considerably, in fact it is almost complete. Having regard to the nature of the accusation levelled against this petitioner as well the period of detention undergone by him in custody, I think that further detention of this petitioner may not be necessary for the prosecution to proceed with the investigation of the case. Therefore, I am inclined to release him on bail subject to the following conditions:

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

(ii) The petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer for interrogation as and when required by him, in writing.

(iii) The petitioner shall not directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.

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

In case of violation of any of the above conditions, the learned Magistrate is empowered to cancel the bail in accordance with the law.