Sreejith vs State Of Kerala

Ziyad Rahman A.A., J

This is an application for regular bail.

The petitioner is the accused in Crime No.543/2023 of Elathur Police Station, Kozhikode District. The offence alleged against the petitioner is under Section 55 (a) of Abkari Act.

The prosecution case is that, on 18.06.2023 at 17.30 hours, the petitioner was found in possession of 3.5 litres of IMFL kept for sale and thereby committed the offence.

The crime was registered in such circumstances and the petitioner was arrested on 29.07.2023. Since then, he has been under judicial detention. This application for regular bail is submitted in such circumstances.

Heard Sri.P.K.Subhash, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Smt.Seetha S, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor appearing for the State.

I have carefully gone through the records. It is true that the petitioner was found in possession of contraband article. However, the quantity involved is not very high. No criminal antecedents of the petitioner was brought to my notice. The prosecution does not have a case that IMFL recovered form the possession of the petitioner was spurious in nature. In such circumstances, taking note of the period of incarceration, the petitioner has already undergone and other relevant circumstances, I do not find any necessity of further incarceration of the petitioner.

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

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

2) The petitioner shall fully cooperate with the investigation.

3) The petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m on every Wednesday until the filing of final report.

4) The petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer as and when required.

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

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

7) The petitioner shall not leave India without the permission of the jurisdictional 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 the law.