Nidhi Gupta And 8 Others vs State Of U.P.
2023 Latest Caselaw 35574 ALL

Allahabad High Court

Nidhi Gupta And 8 Others vs State Of U.P. on 18 December, 2023

Author: Krishan Pahal

Bench: Krishan Pahal

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 


?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:239848
 
Court No. - 72
 

 
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 7669 of 2023
 

 
Applicant :- Nidhi Gupta And 8 Others
 
Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
 
Counsel for Applicant :- Harsh Vardhan Gupta,Aditya Gupta
 
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Anurag Vajpeyi,Aushim Luthra
 

 
Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J.
 

1. List has been revised.

2. Heard Sri Aditya Gupta, learned counsel for the applicants and Sri Praveen Kumar Pandey, Advocate holding brief of Sri Anurag Vajpeyi, learned counsel for the informant as well as Sri Sunil Kumar, learned A.G.A. for the State and also perused the material available on record.

3. The present anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicants in F.I.R./Case Crime No. 181 of 2023, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of IPC, Police Station Bithoor, District Kanpur Nagar, with a prayer to enlarge them on anticipatory bail.

4. The FIR has been instituted by the informant whereby the crux of the allegation is that there was a Builder Buyer Agreement which was entered between the parties on 13.11.2014. In this regard, two civil suits were pending between the parties, as such, the FIR was instituted by applicant no.1 against the informant. The applicants are stated to have sold the part of land belonging to the informant and villas were constructed thereon.

5. Learned counsel for the applicants has stated that they are maliciously being prosecuted in the present case due to ulterior motive and have apprehension of their arrest. They have nothing to do with the said offence as alleged by the prosecution. Learned counsel has further stated that interim protection was granted by this Court vide order dated 11.07.2023 and the said order reads as under:-

"1. List has been revised.

2. Heard Sri Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Sri Aditya Gupta, learned counsel for the applicants, Sri Manish Tiwari, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Sri Anurag Bajpayee, learned counsel for the informant and learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material available on record.

3. The present anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicants in Case Crime No.181 of 2023, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B I.P.C., Police Station Bithoor, District Kanpur Nagar, with a prayer to enlarge them on anticipatory bail.

4. As per prosecution story, the applicants and the informant are stated to have entered into a builder buyer agreement on 13.11.2014. Subsequent to it, there were two civil suits pending between the parties and an FIR was instituted by applicant no.1 against the informant and the applicants are stated to have sold their part of land and are stated to have refused to execute the sale of the part of land belonging to the informant as Villas were constructed on it by him.

5. Sri Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi, learned Senior Counsel for the applicants has stated that there was no builder buyer agreement entered into between the parties. The said document is fake. Learned Senior Counsel has further stated that it was a partnership deed agreement. Learned Senior Counsel has placed reliance on Section 14 of the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 and has categorically stated that even the subsequent document of having cancelled the builder buyer agreement is fake. The applicants are the bona fide persons. Applicant nos.1 and 2 are the owners of the said land which was developed and others are the buyers and the witnesses of the cancellation deed.

6. Learned Senior Counsel has further stated that applicant nos.1 and 2 are ladies and have been falsely implicated in the present case. The applicants have apprehension of their arrest. There are no criminal antecedents of the applicants. The applicants undertake that they will cooperate in the investigation failing which the State can move appropriate application for vacation of the interim protection.

7. Per contra, Sri Manish Tiwari, learned Senior Counsel for the informant has vehemently opposed the anticipatory bail on the ground that the informant has been duped of his hard earned money as a builder buyer agreement was entered into between the parties, although it is an admitted fact that it was not a registered document rather it was entered on a notarial stamp paper.

8. Learned Senior Counsel has further stated that the informant had spent a lot of money and constructed Villas on the said piece of land. Applicant no.1 and 2 have even sold the two Villas which was supposed to be sold by the informant as per the said agreement. Learned Senior Counsel has further stated that the said premise was sealed and all the notices by the Kanpur Development Authority were issued against the informant. Learned Senior Counsel has further stated that it was the informant who had taken the pains to get all the documentation done at the end of Kanpur Development Authority and the construction work has been undertaken by him. Had he not done so, why would the notices be addressed to him?

9. Learned A.G.A. has also opposed the prayer for grant of anticipatory bail.

10. Matter requires consideration.

11. Learned Senior Counsel for the informant proposes to file counter affidavit and is allowed three days' time to file the same. Rejoinder affidavit, if any, may be filed within three days' thereafter.

12. In the meantime, learned A.G.A. may also file counter affidavit, if advised so.

13. List this case on 20.07.2023 in the additional cause list.

14. Till the next date of listing, no coercive action shall be taken against the applicants in the aforesaid case.

15. On due consideration to the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the applicants as well as learned A.G.A. and considering the nature of accusations and antecedents of the applicant, the applicants, as an interim measure, are liable to be enlarged on interim anticipatory bail.

16. In the event of arrest, the accused-applicants- Nidhi Gupta, Smt. Seema Gupta, Anand Gupta, Vikram Soni, Puneet Gupta, Rishi Kumar Mishra, Sandeep Gupta, Amit Malhotra and Rampal Singh shall be released forthwith in the aforesaid case crime (supra) on interim anticipatory bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs.50,000/- and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the arresting officer/investigating officer/S.H.O. concerned on the following conditions:-

(i) the applicants shall make themselves available for interrogation as and when required;

(ii) the applicants shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer; and

(iii) the applicants shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court."

6. Learned counsel for the applicant has stated that subsequent to it, parties have settled the matter once for all and the said settlement dated 07.10.2023 has been filed by means of the supplementary affidavit dated 19.10.2023. Several other submissions have been made on behalf of the applicants to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against them. The circumstances which, as per counsel, led to the false implication of the applicants have also been touched upon at length. In case, the anticipatory bail application of the applicants is allowed, they will not misuse the liberty and shall cooperate with trial proceeded, if any.

7. On the other hand, learned counsel for the informant as well as learned A.G.A. have vehemently opposed the prayer for grant of anticipatory bail but unable to dispute the submissions raised by the learned counsel for the applicants.

8. Considering the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties, nature of accusations and antecedents of the applicants, the applicants are liable to be enlarged on anticipatory bail in view of the law laid down by the Apex Court in the case of "Sushila Aggarwal Vs. State (NCT of Delhi) (2020) 5 SCC 1". The future contingencies regarding the anticipatory bail being granted to applicant shall also be taken care of as per the aforesaid judgment of Apex Court.

9. Without expressing any opinion upon ultimate merits of the case either ways which may adversely affect the trial of the case, the anticipatory bail application of the applicants is allowed.

10. In the event of arrest of the applicants, Nidhi Gupta, Smt. Seema Gupta, Anand Gupta, Vikram Soni, Puneet Gupta, Rishi Kumar Mishra, Sandeep Gupta, Amit Malhotra and Rampal Singh involved in the aforesaid case crime number, shall be released on anticipatory bail till the conclusion of trial on furnishing a personal bond with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Presiding Officer/Court Concerned, with the conditions that:-

i. that the applicants shall make themselves available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required;

ii. that the applicants shall not, directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence;

iii. that the applicants shall not leave India without previous permission of the court;

iv. that the applicants shall not tamper with the evidence during the trial;

v. that the applicants shall not pressurize/ intimidate the prosecution witness;

vi. that the applicants shall appear before the trial court on each date fixed unless personal presence are exempted;

11. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the court concerned shall have the liberty to cancel the bail granted to the applicants.

12. It is made clear that observations made in granting anticipatory bail to the applicants shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses.

(Justice Krishan Pahal)

Order Date :- 18.12.2023

Siddhant