Ravi Verma vs State Of Madhya Pradesh

Milind Ramesh Phadke, J

This is the first application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) filed by the applicant seeking grant of bail.

The applicant has been arrested on 08.10.2025 in connection with Crime No. 489/2025 registered at Police Station City Kotwali District Bhind, for offences punishable under Sections 318(4) of BNS.

According to the prosecution case, the complainant Ashok Sharma submitted a typed application to City Kotwali, Bhind, on 28.09.2025, stating that he holds an account number at SBI Bank, Lahar Road, Bhind. On 22.09.2025, at around 8 PM, he went to withdraw money from an Axis Bank ATM at Indira Gandhi Chauraha, when his ATM card got stuck in the machine. A person standing behind him told him to call the helpline number to register a complaint. When he called that number, he was instructed over the phone to press the cancel button, enter his ATM PIN, and then press the enter button, after which his ATM card would come out. When the ATM card did not come out, the unknown person asked him to call the same number again. Upon calling again, he was told that the ATM card would be retrieved by the engineer in the morning, who would call him, and then he could collect his card. As he was returning home, he became suspicious and went back to the ATM, only to find that his ATM card was no longer in the machine and that the helpline number, which was written on the ATM, had been erased. At that moment, he noticed that a total of Rs.11,200/- had been withdrawn fraudulently from his ATM card—Rs.10,000/- from PNB ATM, Etawah Road, Bhind, and Rs.1,200/- from the same ATM at Etawah Road— by some unknown person. On the basis of aforesaid application, the present FIR has been registered and the matter was taken up for investigation. During investigation, the present applicant was arrested.

Learned counsel for the applicant respectfully submits that the applicant has been falsely implicated in the present matter and is innocent. It is contended that the applicant has been made accused solely on the basis of the memorandum statement of the co-accused under Section 27 of the Evidence Act, and, other than this, there is no material evidence connecting the applicant with the alleged offence. Nothing has been recovered from the possession of the applicant. It is further submitted that the conclusion of the trial is likely to take considerable time, and there is no likelihood of the applicant absconding or tampering with prosecution witnesses. In view of the foregoing, it is prayed that the applicant be granted the benefit of bail.

Per contra, learned counsel for the State vehemently opposed the bail application and prayed for its rejection, submitting that the applicant has criminal antecedents of ten criminal cases of similar nature.

Heard counsel for the parties and perused the case diary.

Considering all the facts and circumstances of the case, arguments advanced by both the parties coupled with the fact that the trial is not likely to conclude in near future and prolonged pre-trial detention being an anathema to the concept of liberty, this Court is inclined to extend the benefit of bail to the applicant.

Accordingly, without commenting on merits of the case, this bail application is allowed. It is directed that the applicant be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) with one local solvent surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the concerned trial Court for his appearance before it on the dates given by the concerned Court.

This order will remain operative subject to compliance of the following conditions by the applicant:-

The applicant will comply with all the terms and conditions of the bond executed by him;

The applicant will cooperate in the investigation/trial, as the case may be;

The applicant will not indulge himself in extending inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing such facts to the Court or to the Police Officer, as the case may be;

The applicant shall not commit any other offence during pendency of the trial, failing which this bail order shall stand cancelled automatically, without further reference to the Bench;

The applicant will not seek unnecessary adjournments during the trial; and

The applicant will not leave India without previous permission of the trial Court/Investigating Officer, as the case may be.

Copy of this order be sent to the trial Court concerned for compliance.

Certified copy as per rules.