Mussadiq Khan Alias Rahil vs State Of Karnataka

S Vishwajith Shetty, J

Accused in S.C.No.1569/2022 pending before the Court of IV Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Mayohall Unit, Bengaluru arising out of Crime No.210/2022 registered by Banaswadi Police Station, Bengaluru City, for the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC is before this Court in this successive bail application filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C, seeking regular bail.

Heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties.

FIR in Crime No.210/2022 was registered by Banaswadi Police Station, Bengaluru City for the aforesaid offence against the petitioner herein, on the basis of first information dated 12.05.2022 received from Sri G.K. Ramesh S/o Late G Kannan, who is the father of deceased R Jaikumar. During the course of investigation, the petitioner herein was arrested on 15.05.2022 and subsequently remanded to judicial custody. After completing investigation, charge sheet has been filed against the petitioner for the aforesaid offence.

The bail application filed by the petitioner before the jurisdictional Sessions Court was rejected and therefore he had approached this Court in Crl.P.No.1119/2023, which was dismissed on merits on 11.04.2023. Thereafter, the petitioner had filed a fresh bail application before the Trial Court in S.C.No.1569/2022 which was dismissed on 30.07.2024. Therefore, he is before this Court in this successive bail application.

Perusal of the material on record would go to show that the petitioner and the deceased Jaikumar were close friends and they were also business partners. It is alleged in the charge sheet that for the purpose of their business, loans were borrowed in the name of wife and sister of the deceased and the petitioner himself was repaying the monthly installments of the said loans. On 12.05.2022, the deceased and his friends CW.6 to CW8 were partying in his apartment and the petitioner, who was in the adjacent room allegedly asked them not to shout.

The deceased allegedly had questioned the petitioner about repayment of loan borrowed in the name of his wife and also about the loan borrowed for purchase of car in the name of his sister. It is in this background, a quarrel had taken place between the parties and the petitioner allegedly stabbed Jaikumar with a knife, used to cut vegetables and as a result Jaikumar fell down. Immediately, thereafter, the petitioner had gone out of the apartment and had fetched an autorikshaw and in the said autorikshaw CW.6 and CW.7 had shifted the injured Jaikumar to a hospital. However, in the hospital he was declared 'dead'.

From the aforesaid it is apparent that, the incident in question had taken place in a spur of moment, after the parties had fought against each other. The petitioner and the deceased were close friends and only after the deceased, who was consuming alcohol with his other friends had fought with the petitioner, he allegedly had stabbed him with a knife, which was used in the apartment for the purpose of cutting vegetables. The conduct of the petitioner immediately after the incident would prima-facie go to show that, he had no intention to commit the murder of Jaikumar.

Before the Trial Court, out of the 51 charge sheet witnesses cited in the present case, as on this date, only five witnesses have been examined. Except CW.6 all other material charge sheet witnesses are already examined. The petitioner is a married person and he has no criminal antecedents. He is in custody for the last more than three years. Since the prosecution has examined only five witnesses out of the 51 charge sheet witnesses cited in the present case, the chances of trial being completed and case being disposed of in the near soon is very remote. Under these circumstances, I am of the view that, the prayer made by the petitioner for grant of regular bail needs to be answered affirmatively considering his period of incarceration, without expressing any opinion on merits / demerits of the case.

Accordingly, the following:

ORDER

Criminal Petition is allowed.

The petitioner is directed to be enlarged on bail in S.C.No.1569/2022 pending before the Court of IV Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Mayohall Unit, Bengaluru arising out of Crime No.210/2022 registered by Banaswadi Police Station, Bengaluru City, for the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC, subject to the following conditions:

a) The petitioner shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000 (Rupees One Lakh only) with two sureties for the likesum, to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court;

b) The petitioner shall appear regularly on all the dates of hearing before the Trial Court unless the Trial Court exempts his appearance for valid reasons;

c) The petitioner shall not directly or indirectly threaten or tamper with the prosecution witnesses;

d) The petitioner shall not involve in similar offences in future;