Bombay High Court
Devendra Ramchandra Patil And Anr vs The State Of Maharashtra on 21 March, 2022
Bench: C.V. Bhadang
36 aba 962-21.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION NO. 962 OF 2021
SNEHA Devendra Ramchandra Patil and Anr. ..Applicants
NITIN
CHAVAN V/s.
Digitally signed
by SNEHA NITIN
The State of Maharashtra ..Respondent
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CHAVAN
Date: 2022.03.21
19:29:02 +0530
Mr. Sanjeev Kadam i/b Mr. Sagar Talekar for the Applicants.
Mr. S.R. Agarkar, APP for the Respondent/State.
Mr. Abhijeet Desai for the intervenor.
API Tukaram Rathod, Daund Police Station, Pune.
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CORAM : C.V. BHADANG, J.
DATE : 21 MARCH 2022
P.C.
1. By this application, the Applicants apprehending arrest in
Crime No. 133 of 2021 of Police Station Daund, District Pune
under Section 341, 420, 447, 465, 467, 468, 469 of IPC are
seeking anticipatory bail.
2. The aforesaid crime is registered on the basis of the
complaint dated 12.03.2021 lodged by Jayanta Gopal Dhekane.
3. There appears to be a dispute amongst the
members/trustees of Naigaon Education Society which is a Trust
registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act. The present FIR
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36 aba 962-21.doc
appears to be the outcome of the said dispute. The complaint is
lodged by Jayanta Dhekne, who was stated to be the Principal of
the college run by the Trust. According to the informant, during
the period from 01.06.2013 to 07.05.2014, the present
Applicants had supplied certain articles including a computer
server and 10 thin clients to Daund Taluka Arts and Commerce
College worth Rs.1,74,510/-. According to the informant, the
said articles were substandard/old articles. The Applicants
thereby cheated the said college. It is also alleged that the
Applicants have prepared forged and fabricated stamps and
entered into correspondence with the Authorities claiming to be
the office bearers/trustees of the said Trust.
4. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties. Perused
record.
5. The record discloses that by an order dated 05.04.2021,
this Court (Sarang V. Kotwal, J) had granted interim protection to
the Applicants inter alia on the condition of attendance with the
concerned police station. The learned APP did not dispute that
the Applicants have reported to the Investigating Officer and
have co-operated in the matter of investigation.
6. The learned counsel for the Applicants submitted that the
allegation about the supply of substandard articles is for the
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36 aba 962-21.doc
period from June 2013 to May 2014 and the FIR is lodged
belatedly on 12.03.2021. It is submitted that the Applicants have
been falsely implicated on account of the dispute amongst the
Trustees of the said Trust. The learned counsel had pointed out
the copy of the Schedule-III dated 18 January 2012 maintained
by the office of the Charity Commissioner in order to submit that
the Applicants are shown as the Chairman and the Secretary of
the said Trust. He submitted that in any event, looking to the
nature of the dispute and the fact that Applicants have co-
operated with the investigation, the custodial interrogation is not
required.
7. The learned counsel for the informant, strenuously urged
that although the Applicants are not the Trustees/office bearers of
the Trust, they are entering into correspondence with the
Authorities and the Bank, claiming to be the Trustees. The
learned counsel has pointed out the Judgment and Order dated
22.11.2016 passed by the Deputy Charity Commissioner,
Mumbai in Change Report No. 1496 of 2012 in order to submit
that while rejecting the Change Report, the persons named in
Exhibit 1 were only directed to act as de-facto Managers. It is
pointed out that the inspector of the office of the Charity
Commissioner was directed to conduct elections and accordingly
elections have been conducted and new body has assumed charge
in the year 2018. The learned counsel pointed out certain
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correspondence, subsequent to 2018 in which the Applicants
continue to claim to be the Trustees of the said Trust.
8. I have considered the circumstances and the submissions
made. I am afraid the inter se dispute between the parties as to
their claim as trustees cannot be examined in the application
under Section 438 of Cr.P.C., nor can be a matter of investigation
under the offence as registered against the Applicants. Needless
to mention that the informant and other trustees have their own
remedies under the Bombay Public Trust Act, if so advised. The
consideration in the present application has to be confined to the
need for custodial interrogation in the context of the allegations
made in the FIR. It can prima facie be seen that the only
allegation in the FIR is that from June 2013 to May 2014 certain
substandard articles were supplied by the Trust to the college
worth Rs.1,74,510/-. The later part of the allegation in the FIR
again pertains to fact that without holding any office, the
Applicants were writing to the university and the Government
Offices and the Banks claiming to be the Trustees.
9. As noticed earlier, this is a part which cannot be gone into
in the application under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. It can be seen
that there is substantial delay in lodging of the FIR for the alleged
irregularities in June 2013 to May 2014 the FIR came to be
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36 aba 962-21.doc
lodged in March 2021. I do no find that the custodial
interrogation of the Applicants is warranted.
10. In the result, the criminal application is disposed of in
terms of order dated 05.04.2021, which is hereby made absolute.
The Applicants shall co-operate with the investigating agency and
shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence/witnesses.
(C.V. BHADANG, J.)
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