Salahudeen O M vs State Of Kerala

Ziyad Rahman A.A., J

This bail application is filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail.

The petitioner is the 2nd accused in crime No.1015/2022 of Infopark Police Station, Ernakulam. The offences alleged against the petitioner and other accused are under Section 452, 324, 384, 395, 427 and 506 of the Indian

The prosecution case is that, on 23.12.2022, the petitioner along with 32-40 identifiable persons trespassed into the office run by the defacto complainant under the leadership of 1st accused along with weapons such as hammer, stick and gun and attacked the defacto complainant and his staff. It is further alleged that, the defacto complainant was compelled to sign certain cheques and laptop, office files, treatment equipment, car, ATM Card, gold, dresses and speakers were taking away by them. It is also alleged that the accused persons poured salt by stating that it is MDMA and they also brought condom, injections and drugs to create an impression that he is a businessman of dealing with the same. The crime was registered in such circumstances. As part of the investigation of the case, the petitioner was arrested on 26.03.2023. Since then he has been under judicial custody. This application for regular bail is submitted in such circumstances.

Heard Sri. S. Rajeev, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Sri. M.P. Prasanth, the learned Public Prosecutor for the State.

The learned counsel for the petitioner points out that the petitioner is innocent of all the allegations. According to him, he is a leader of a political party and he intervened in the matter as a mediator, consequent to certain disputes relating to financial transactions between the 1st accused and the defacto complainant. It is also pointed out that there was delay of two days in reporting the matter to the Police and when the defacto complainant availed treatment in the hospital, the matter was reported as a motor accident. The learned counsel for the petitioner points out that he is prepared to abide by any condition that may be imposed by this Court and shall co-operate with the investigation.

On the other hand the learned Public Prosecutor would oppose the aforesaid application by pointing out that there are serious allegations against the petitioner. The matter is now under investigation. The learned Public Prosecutor points out that even though the petitioner is involved in some other cases, the same were under the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance

After considering all the relevant aspects, it is seen that there are certain allegations against the petitioner. However, as rightly pointed out by the learned counsel, there is delay of two days in reporting the matter to the Police. Besides the same, the defacto complainant while availing the treatment, reported the incident as a motor accident. Now the petitioner is in custody since 26.03.2023. There is substantial progress in the investigation. Even though the petitioner was involved in some other cases, the offences alleged are not very serious in nature. In such circumstances, taking into account all the relevant aspects, I deem it appropriate to allow this bail application directing the release of the petitioner on bail.

Accordingly, the petitioner is directed to be released on bail subject to the following conditions:-

(I) The petitioner shall be released on bail on executing a bond for `1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional

(ii) The petitioner shall fully cooperate with the investigation.

(iii) The petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m every Saturday until the filing of the final report.

(iv) The petitioner shall also appear before the Investigating Officer as and when required.

(v) The petitioner shall surrender his passport before the jurisdictional court. If the petitioner does not have a passport, he shall execute an affidavit to that effect and file the same before the said court.

(vi) The petitioner shall not commit any offence of similar nature while on bail.

(vii) The petitioner shall not make any 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.

(viii) The petitioner shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

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