Rani Saji Sam vs State Of Kerala

Viju Abraham, J.

This is an application for regular bail.

The petitioner is the 2nd accused in Crime No.909 of 2021 of the Pathanamthitta Police Station, Pathanamthitta District registered alleging commission of offences punishable under Sections 409 & 420 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (in short, ''IPC'') and Section 3 read with Section 21(2)(3), Section 5 read with Section 23 and Section 25(1) of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019.

The allegation in the FIR is that the petitioner along with her husband with the intention of making unlawful gain for herself and for causing unlawful loss to the de-facto complainant, accepted fixed deposits at different times promising 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 the de-facto complainant and thereby cheated the de-facto complainant by committing criminal breach of trust. It is alleged that the petitioner also committed offence under Section 420 IPC.

Petitioner submits that she has been falsely implicated in the abovesaid crime and that she is in custody from 19.07.2022 onwards. It is submitted that her husband was paying interest for the deposits regularly for the amounts deposited by the defacto complainant and that there was no wilful default on the part of her husband in refunding the fixed deposits. It is further submitted that the petitioner could not repay the entire amount of deposits when all the depositors requested for refund of deposits all on a sudden.

Heard the learned Public Prosecutor also.

Having regard to the fact that petitioner has been in custody for long, I am of the view that continued detention of the petitioner would not serve any purpose. In view of the above, the petitioner is entitled to be released on bail on conditions.

Accordingly, this bail application is allowed on the following conditions:

(i) Petitioner shall be released on bail on her executing a bond for Rs.25,000/- (Rupees Twenty five thousand only) with two solvent sureties each for the like sum to the satisfaction of the court having jurisdiction.

(ii) Petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer Crime No.909 of 2021 of the Pathanamthitta Police Station, Pathanamthitta District as and when required.

(iii) Petitioner shall not intimidate or attempt to influence the witnesses; nor shall she tamper with the evidence.

(iv) Petitioner shall not commit any similar offences while she is on bail.

(v) Petitioner shall surrender the passport before the jurisdictional court.

(vi) Petitioner shall not leave State of Kerala without intimating the Investigating Officer.

In case of violation of any of the above conditions, the jurisdictional Court shall be empowered to consider the application for cancellation, if any, and pass appropriate orders in accordance with the law, notwithstanding the bail having been granted by this Court.