Jharkhand High Court
Manish Kumar Pandey Aged About 29 Years vs The State Of Jharkhand ... ..Opp. Party on 3 October, 2024
Author: Ratnaker Bhengra
Bench: Ratnaker Bhengra
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Cr.Rev. No. 789 of 2024
Manish Kumar Pandey aged about 29 years, son of Omprakash Pandey, resi-
dent of village- Kokrasa, P.O._ Lami Patra, P.S. Pandawa, Murma, District-
Palamau, Jharkhand .. .. ..Petitioner
--VERSUS--
The State Of Jharkhand ... ..Opp. Party
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CORAM: HONBLE MR. JUSTICE RATNAKER BHENGRA
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For the Petitioner : Mr. Indrajit Sinha, Adv
Mr.Akhouri Awinash Kumar, Adv
For the State : Ms. Ruby Pandey, APP
02/DATED: 03-10-2024
I.A. No. 10667 of 2024
The instant interlocutory application has been filed by the petitioner
for suspension of sentence and grant of bail, during the pendency of this criminal re-
vision being Cr. Revision No. 789 of 2024 which was preferred against the judg-
ment dated 15.05.2024 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Gumla in
Criminal Appeal No. 61 of 2023, whereby and whereunder the learned court has
dismissed the appeal filed by the petitioner and upheld the judgment of conviction
dated 23.08.2023 and order of sentence dated 23.09.2023 passed by the learned
Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gumla in connection with G.R. Case No. 617 of 2020
arising out of Gumla P.S. Case No. 324 of 2019.
The prosecution case, in brief, is that the criminal law was set into
motion on the application of Sri Birendra Kumar Sinha, Addl. Project Director,
ITDA, Gumla, in which, it was alleged that Rs. 9,05,16,700/- were allegedly with-
drawn from the SBI Gumla Account No. 11400473211 of ITDA, Gumla by un-
known accused in connivance with official and officers of SBI, Gumla and the
above said amount was transferred in the Account No. 918020058032444 of Amit
Chandu Lal Patel in account of Axis Bank, Kotpar Branch, Odisa.
The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner
is not named in the FIR and his name has only come during the investigation , in
which he has confessed, which is not admissible in law. The learned counsel has
then submitted that there was transfer of total Rs. 40,000/- ( 20,00+20,000) from the
main accused i.e. Anil Chand Lal Patel to the account of this petitioner. The learned
counsel for the petitioner submits that he has business dealing with this Anil Chand
Lal Patel and therefore, he should not be held liable for the allegations that are
made. It is further submitted that amount involved is only Rs. 40,000/- and during
the regular bail application, he was directed to deposit Rs. 40,000/- which shows the
extent to which his liability is there and that too the liability which arose out of
genuine business transaction. It is further submitted that based on the aforesaid, the
petitioner has been in custody for amount 18 months. The learned counsel has fur-
ther submitted that co-accused, namely, Raj Kumar Tiwari in IA No. 10759 of 2024
in Cr. Rev. No. 797 of 2024, Pankaj Tigga in IA No. 10477 of 2024 in Cr. Rev. No.
793 of 2024 and Sajan Raj @ Manish Jain @ Mangal in IA No. 7858 of 2024 in Cr.
Rev. No. 802 of 2024 have been granted bail by this Court vide orders dated
30.09.2024, 24.09.2024 and 09.09.2024 respectively. The learned counsel for the
petitioner has further submitted that this case is similar to co-accused Pankaj
Tigga,therefore he may also be granted the privilege of bail.
The learned counsel for the State has opposed the prayer for suspen-
sion of sentence of the petitioner and submitted that there is ample evidence submit-
ted by the many of the witnesses against the accused persons including this peti-
tioner and, therefore, prayer for suspension of sentence may not be allowed.
Having heard the learned counsels for the parties, noted the submis-
sions and gone through the records of the case and also taking into account the cus-
todial period, I am inclined to grant bail to the petitioner, above named, during pen-
dency of this criminal revision petition, on executing bail bond of Rs. 25,000/-
( Rupees Twenty Five Thousand only) with two sureties of the like amount each to
the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gumla in connection with
G.R. Case No. 617 of 2020, arising out of Gumla P.S. Case No. 324 of 2019.
Accordingly, I.A. No. 10667 of 2024 stands allowed and disposed of.
Heard.
Admit.
Put up this case along with Cr. Rev. No. 797 of 2024, Cr. Rev. No. 793
of 2024, Cr. Rev. No. 802 of 2024 and Cr. Rev. No. 703 of of 2024.
( Ratnaker Bhengra, J)
sharda/-
