Allahabad High Court
Dev Murti And 7 Others vs State Of U.P. And 2 Others on 20 January, 2023
Bench: Manju Rani Chauhan
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 77
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 10759 of 2021
Applicant :- Dev Murti And 7 Others
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others
Counsel for Applicant :- Mohit Singh,Ravi Kumar Singh
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
with
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 12412 of 2021
Applicant :- Maqsood Khan
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others
Counsel for Applicant :- Mohit Singh
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
with
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 12487 of 2021
Applicant :- Ajay Kumar Sharma And 2 Others
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others
Counsel for Applicant :- Mohit Singh
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan,J.
Heard Sri Anurag Khanna, learned counsel for the applicants, Sri Rajesh Soni, learned Additional Government Advocate for the State of U.P. and perused the record.
The present application has been moved seeking anticipatory bail in Case Crime No. 1778 of 2018, under Section - 409 I.P.C., Police Station - Baradari, District - Bareilly, with the prayer that in the event of arrest, applicant may be released on bail.
On 02.06.2021, Coordinate Bench of this Court, while granting interim anticipatory bail to the applicants, has passed following order :-
"Heard Sri Anurag Khanna, learned Senior Counsel, assisted by Sri Mohit Singh, learned counsel for the applicants and learned AGA for the State.
This Criminal Misc. Anticipatory Bail Application under Section 438 Cr.P.C. has been moved by the applicants directly before this Court seeking anticipatory bail in Case Crime No. 1778 of 2018, under Section 409 IPC, Police Station Baradari, District Bareilly, during the pendency of the investigation.
The applicants were member of the Committee of Management and approached this Court directly without first approaching the Sessions Court. In paragraph No. 5 of the affidavit to the bail application the reasons have been disclosed, thus this anticipatory bail application is being heard as there is compelling circumstances as held in Full Bench judgment of this Court in case of Ankit Bharti vs. State of U.P. and another, 2020 (3) ADJ 165 (F.B.).
Sri Anurag Khanna, learned Senior Counsel, submits that FIR was lodged in the year 2018 and investigation is still going on and no case under Section 409 IPC is made out. He further submitted that a letter was issued by the office of Regional Higher Education Officer, which was replied by the institution in question. It is further submitted that the entire Committee of Management has been roped in by the authorities while the investigation is still pending. He further submits that urgency in moving the anticipatory bail application is that a member of the Committee of Management has been arrested in March 2021, as such, there is apprehension that the other members of the Committee of Management may be arrested by the police. Lastly, it is submitted that in case the applicants are released on bail, they would not misuse the liberty and would co-operate with the investigation.
Learned AGA has strongly opposed the bail application by submitting that there is huge embezzlement. However, he could not deny the fact that investigation is still on and the amount of embezzlement is only on the basis of assumption.
Looking to the facts of the case, reasonable apprehension of arrest, taking into consideration the gravity and nature of accusation, there being no criminal antecedents of the applicants and there being no possibility of their fleeing from justice, this Court is of the view that applicants are entitled for interim anticipatory bail.
Learned AGA prays for and is granted three weeks' time to file counter affidavit. Learned AGA shall communicate this order to the investigating officer of the case and S.S.P./S.P. concerned. Rejoinder affidavit, if any, may be filed by the applicant within a week thereafter.
Put up this case on 05.07.2021, as fresh.
Till the next date of listing, in the event of arrest of the applicants, Dev Murti, Subhash Mehra, Dinesh Johari, Krishna Chandra Parashari, Arun Gupta, Somesh Yadav, Prabhash Chandra Azad, Amarendra Kumar Chauhan, involved in the aforesaid case shall be released on ad-interim anticipatory bail on their furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 50,000/- with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Station House Officer of the Police Station concerned with the following conditions:-
(i) The applicants shall make themselves available for interrogation by a police officer 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 him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
(iii) The applicants shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court.
(iv) The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad.
(v) The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
(vi) In default of any of the conditions mentioned above or in case it is found that applicants have obtained this order concealing any material facts, the investigating officers shall be at liberty to file appropriate application for cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to the applicants."
Similar orders were also passed in Criminal Misc. Anticipatory Bail Application Nos. 12487 of 2021 and 12412 of 2021 on 28.07.2021 and 25.06.2021 respectively.
It is submitted by learned counsel for the applicants that till date, no charge-sheet has been submitted in this case, investigation is still going on. The applicant is cooperating with the investigation and did not misuse the liberty of aforesaid interim anticipatory bail which was granted by the Coordinate Bench of this Court.
Learned AGA for the State does not dispute the aforesaid factual aspect of the matter as argued on behalf of the appellants.
In view of the above, aforesaid interim anticipatory bail order is made absolute till submission of police report under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C. on the terms and conditions as indicated in the above order dated 02.06.2021, 28.07.2021 and 25.06.2021.
With the aforesaid observations and directions, the instant anticipatory bail application is allowed.
Order Date :- 20.1.2023
Arti
