Renish vs State Of Kerala

Dr Kauser Edappagath, J

This application is filed u/s 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking pre-arrest bail.

The applicants are the accused Nos.1 to 3 in Crime No.8/2023 of Feroke Police Station. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 406, 420 r/w 34 of IPC.

The prosecution case, in short, is that the applicants who were the Managing Directors of XKonn E Services Limited offered the Franchisee of the firm through Facebook and accepted a sum of Rs.59,000/- from the de facto complainant by executing an agreement and thereafter, the applicants did not provide any service as per the agreement and also did not return the amount and thus committed cheating and criminal breach of trust.

I have heard Sri.P.V.Jeevesh, the learned counsel for the applicants and Smt.Maya M.N., the learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

The learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicants with the alleged crime; hence, they are entitled to get bail. The learned Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicants, and if they are released on bail at this stage, it will affect the course of the investigation.

I went through the FIS. The de facto complainant was appointed as Franchisee of the firm run by the applicants, by receiving a sum of Rs.59,000/-. A reading of FIS would reveal that the de facto complainant run the Franchisee for a short while and thereafter it was stopped. She alleges that Rs.59,000/- paid to the applicants was not returned to her. The counsel for the applicants submits that the applicants are prepared to pay back Rs.59,000/-. It is recorded. In the FIS, there are no ingredients to attract the offences punishable under Sections 406 and 420 of IPC. Considering the allegations levelled against the applicants, their custodial interrogation does not appear to be necessary. For these reasons, it is a fit case where pre-arrest bail can be granted to the applicants.

In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) The applicants shall be released on bail in the event of their arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) each with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the arresting officer/investigating officer, as the case may be.

(ii) The applicants shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting themselves to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as and when demanded.

(iii) The applicants shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. every Saturday until further orders. They shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.

(iv) The applicants shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.

(v) The applicants shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.

(vi) The applicants shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.