Rani Saji Sam vs State Of Kerala

Viju Abraham, J.

These are applications for regular bail.

The petitioner in both the cases is the 2nd accused in Crime Nos.724/2021 & 722/2021 of Pathanamthitta Police Station alleging commission of offences punishable under Section 409, 420 r/w Section 34 of Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 r/w 21(2) (3), 5 r/w 23, 25(1) of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme Act, 2019.

The prosecution allegation is that, the petitioner along with her husband with the intention of making unlawful gain for herself and for causing unlawful loss to the defacto complainants, accepted fixed deposits at different times, promising them to pay interest @ 10% per annum for the fixed deposits and that money would be safe and that the same can be refunded as and when requested for and thereafter did not refund the said amount despite the request made by them and thereby cheated them by committing criminal breach of trust and thus the accused committed the aforesaid offences.

4 .The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the above crimes and there was no intention to defraud the depositors. It is also submitted that the petitioner could not repay the entire amount of depositors when all the depositors requested for refund, all on a sudden and that the petitioner will be able to refund the money within a reasonable time. It is further submitted that the petitioner is in custody in both these cases from 17.03.2022 onwards. The petitioner submits that the 1st accused, who is the petitioner's husband, is already granted bail in almost all the cases and she specifically refers to the order passed by this Court in B.A.No.412/2022 and 844/2022 granting bail to him.

The learned Public Prosecutor seriously opposed the bail application mainly contending the petitioner along with the other accused had carried out a series of frauds and huge amounts of money were siphoned off and that large number of depositors lost their hard earned money due to the criminal acts of the petitioner.

Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, considering the nature of the allegations and considering the fact that the 1st accused is granted bail in almost all the cases and further that the petitioner is in custody from 17.03.2022, I am inclined to grant bail to the petitioner subject to stringent conditions. In the result, these bail applications are allowed. It is directed that the petitioner shall be released on bail, subject to the following conditions:

(i) The petitioner shall execute separate bonds in each case 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 Crime Nos.724/2021 & 722/2021 of Pathanamthitta Police Station every Saturday at 11.00 am till the filing of final report and the petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation.

(iii) The petitioner shall not attempt to interfere with the investigation or to influence or intimidate the victims or any witness in Crime Nos.724/2021 & 722/2021 of Pathanamthitta Police Station;

(iv) The petitioner shall surrender her passport before the jurisdictional court. If the petitioner does not have a passport, she shall execute an affidavit to that effect and file the same before the jurisdictional court within seven days of release on bail,

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

If any of the aforesaid conditions is violated, the investigating officer in Crime Nos. 724/2021 & 722/2021 of Pathanamthitta Police Station may file an application before the jurisdictional court for cancellation of bail.