Gujarat High Court
Prakash Kanvarlal vs State Of Gujarat on 22 September, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/19311/2025 ORDER DATED: 22/09/2025
undefined
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR ANTICIPATORY BAIL) NO.
19311 of 2025
==========================================================
PRAKASH KANVARLAL
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT
==========================================================
Appearance:
MR AMIT P PATEL(3498) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MS KIRAN R UDASI(12127) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR ROHAN SHAH, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
==========================================================
CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DIVYESH A. JOSHI
Date : 22/09/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. Rule. Learned APP waives service of notice of rule for respondent - State of Gujarat.
2. By way of the present application under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short "BNSS"), the applicant has prayed for anticipatory bail in the event of arrest in connection with the FIR being C.R. No. 11995001250010 of 2025 registered with State Monitoring Cell Police Station, District Gandhinagar for the alleged offences as mentioned in the FIR.
3. Heard learned advocate Ms. Kiran Udasi for the applicant and learned APP Mr. Rohan Shah for the respondent - State.
Page 1 of 7 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Sep 23 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Sep 23 23:40:22 IST 2025NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/19311/2025 ORDER DATED: 22/09/2025 undefined
4. Learned advocate Ms. Udasi for the applicant submits that as per the case of the prosecution, the so-called incident is occurred during the period between 05.05.2025 to 06.05.2025 and FIR is registered on 06.05.2025. She further submits that the members of the raiding party had received certain inputs, on the basis of which, they had gone to the house of accused No.1 and during the course of investigation, the members of the raiding party had recovered contraband article (opium alkaloids) in conscious possession of the accused No.1 - Ishwarbhai Kesrabhai Chaudhari, pursuant to which, FIR is registered and during the course of interrogation of accused No.1, he has disclosed the name of the applicant. She further submits that so far as the role of the applicant is concerned, it is alleged that applicant is the supplier of said contraband article. She further submits that applicant has no past antecedent. She submits that the role of the applicant has come on surface on the basis of statement of the co-accused and that too recorded before the Investigating Officer and as per the settled proposition of law, a police statement of an accused which is in the form of a confession is per se inadmissible and no reliance whatsoever can be placed on such statements either at the stage of bail or during trial. She has put Page 2 of 7 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Sep 23 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Sep 23 23:40:22 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/19311/2025 ORDER DATED: 22/09/2025 undefined reliance upon the latest decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of P. Krishna Mohan Reddy v. The State of Andhra Pradesh and submitted that in view of the law laid down in the aforesaid decision, applicant may be enlarged on anticipatory bail by imposing suitable conditions.
5. On the other hand, learned APP Mr. Shah has objected present application with vehemence and submitted that applicant is the supplier of contraband article and said fact has come on surface through the statement of the co-accused, who has been caught red-handed by the members of the raiding party along with the contraband article. He further submits that accused No.2 and present applicant are belonging to Madhya Pradesh and they are in constant touch with each other and said fact is fortified from the CDR collected by the investigating officer during the course of investigation. He submits that all the documents collected by the investigating officer during the course of investigation clearly go on to show involvement of the applicant in the commission of crime. He further submits that investigation is at a nascent stage and therefore, present application seeking anticipatory bail, may not be granted looking to the fact that the investigation is at a nascent stage, the gravity of the offence and prima Page 3 of 7 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Sep 23 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Sep 23 23:40:22 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/19311/2025 ORDER DATED: 22/09/2025 undefined facie involvement of the applicant in the commission of crime is found out. Thus, this is not a fit case, wherein, the Hon'ble Court may have to exercise its discretion in favour of the applicant.
6. Having heard learned advocates appearing for the parties and having gone through the materials placed on record, it is found out that on receipt of specific inputs, the members of the raiding party had carried out raid at the premises of the accused No.1, wherefrom, accused No.1 was caught red-handed along with contraband article. During the course of interrogation of the said accused, name of the applicant has come on surface. As per the case of the prosecution, applicant is the supplier of the said contraband article. As per the case of the prosecution, applicant and accused No.2 both are belonging to Madhya Pradesh and all the accused persons were in constant touch with each other and said fact is also found out from the CDR collected by the investigating officer during the course of investigation. Learned advocate for the applicant submits that applicant has been implicated on the basis of statement of the co- accused and that too recorded before the police authority and therefore applicant may be enlarged on anticipatory bail. It is true that a bail application cannot be rejected solely on Page 4 of 7 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Sep 23 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Sep 23 23:40:22 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/19311/2025 ORDER DATED: 22/09/2025 undefined the basis of statement of a co-accused, but at the same time, at the time of deciding an application for anticipatory bail, if the investigating agency is in a position to prove prima facie involvement of the so-called accused in the commission of crime based on other corroborative piece of evidence, anticipatory bail application of the said accused is not required to be entertained by the Court. I have also perused other materials collected by the investigating officer. Thus, from the materials collected by the investigating officer during the course of investigation, prima facie involvement of the applicant in the commission of crime is found out.
7. It is required to be noted that no doubt this Court has extraordinary powers to protect an innocent person, however, the said power has to be exercised by the Court with due circumspection. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sumitha Pradeep Vs. Arun Kumar C.K. & Anr., reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1529 held that merely because custodial interrogation is not required, by itself, could not be a ground to grant anticipatory bail. The first and the foremost thing the Court, while hearing the anticipatory bail application, has to consider is the prima facie case against the accused. The relevant extract of the judgment is reproduced Page 5 of 7 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Sep 23 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Sep 23 23:40:22 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/19311/2025 ORDER DATED: 22/09/2025 undefined hereinbelow:-
"It may be true, as pointed out by learned counsel appearing for Respondent No.1, that charge-sheet has already been filed. It will be unfair to presume on our part that the Investigating Officer does not require Respondent No.1 for custodial interrogation for the purpose of further investigation. Be that as it may, even assuming it a case where Respondent No.1 is not required for custodial interrogation, we are satisfied that the High Court ought not to have granted discretionary relief of anticipatory bail. We are dealing with a matter wherein the original complainant (appellant herein) has come before this Court praying that the anticipatory bail granted by the High Court to the accused should be cancelled. To put it in other words, the complainant says that the High Court wrongly exercised its discretion while granting anticipatory bail to the accused in a very serious crime like POCSO and, therefore, the order passed by the High Court granting anticipatory bail to the accused should be quashed and set aside. In many anticipatory bail matters, we have noticed one common argument being canvassed that no custodial interrogation is required and, therefore, anticipatory bail may be granted. There appears to be a serious misconception of law that if no case for custodial interrogation is made out by the prosecution, then that alone would be a good ground to grant anticipatory bail. Custodial interrogation can be one of the relevant aspects to be considered along with other grounds while deciding an application seeking anticipatory bail. There may be many cases in which the custodial interrogation of the accused may not be required, but that does not mean that the prima facie case against the accused should be ignored or overlooked and he should be granted anticipatory bail. The first and foremost thing that the court hearing an anticipatory bail Page 6 of 7 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Sep 23 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Sep 23 23:40:22 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/19311/2025 ORDER DATED: 22/09/2025 undefined application should consider is the prima facie case put up against the accused. Thereafter, the nature of the offence should be looked into along with the severity of the punishment. Custodial interrogation can be one of the grounds to decline custodial interrogation. However, even if custodial interrogation is not required or necessitated, by itself, cannot be a ground to grant anticipatory bail."
8. Hence, the present application seeking anticipatory bail, being devoid of merit, is hereby dismissed. Rule discharged.
9. Needless to say that the observations and findings made hereinabove are limited to the decision of this pre-arrest bail application, and shall not influence in any other proceedings arising out of the impugned FIR.
(DIVYESH A. JOSHI,J) LAVKUMAR J JANI Page 7 of 7 Uploaded by LAVKUMAR J JANI(HC00210) on Tue Sep 23 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Sep 23 23:40:22 IST 2025