Sri. Kumaraswamy ( @Kumar @ Kiran) vs The State Of Karnataka
2022 Latest Caselaw 11945 Kant

 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU

   DATED THIS THE 19 T H DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2022

                               BEFORE

THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SREENIVAS HARISH KUMAR

          CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.1571 OF 2022

BETWEEN:

Sri Kumaraswamy
(@Kumar @ Kiran)
S/o Shivaramaih
Aged about 38 years
R/at Kaggere Village
Irakasand ra Post
Chelur Hob li, Gubbi Taluk
Tumkur District-572 117.
                                                       ...Appellant
(By Sri Christop her Noel A, Ad vocate)

AND:

The State of Karnataka
By Malleshwaram Police Station
Now CID Police Bang alore
Pin-560001.
                                                      ...Respondent
(By Sri Vishal B.M. Advocate for
 Sri Ashok Naik, Spl.P.P.)

     This Criminal Appeal is filed und er Section 12 of
Karnataka       Control   of   Org anized     Crime     Act,   2000
praying    to   set   asid e   the   ord er   dated    10.08.2022
passed in Sp l.C.C. No.417/2016 on the file of the
learned Prl. City Sessions and Sp l. Court, Bang alore in
                           :: 2 ::


rejecting the b ail app lication filed under Section 439
of the Cod e of Criminal Procedure 1973 and etc,.

      This Criminal Appeal coming on for admission
this d ay, the Court d elivered the following:

                       JUDGMENT

Heard Sri. Christopher Noel A., learned

counsel for the appellant and Sri. Vishal B.M., for

Ashok Nayak, Special Public Prosecutor for the

respondent.

2. This is an appeal under section 12 of the

Karnataka Control of Organized Crime, 2000. The

appellant is accused no.1 in Spl.C.C.No.417/2016

on the file of Prl. City Civil and Sessions Judge,

Bengaluru. He and other accused are facing trial

in relation to offences punishable under sections

411, 454, 457, 380, 381, 461, 166, 120B, 201 r/w

109 IPC, under sections 115 and 23(iii) of

Karnataka Education Act and section 13(1)(D) r/w

13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act and sections :: 3 ::

3(i)(ii), 3(2), 3(4) and 3(5) of Karnataka Control

of Organized Crimes Act,2000, ('KCOCA' for short).

2. The case pertains to leaking of question

paper of second year Pre-University examination

held for the academic year 2015-16. The

allegation against the appellant is that he entered

to the Treasury/strong room of Hanagal Taluk,

opened the seal of the question paper bundle and

took the photographs of the question papers and

circulated the same. Learned counsel refers to the

evidence of PW.62 to argue that his evidence

discloses that the seal put on the bundle was

intact and thereby the involvement of the

appellant in the commission of the offence can be

doubted. But his argument cannot be given

credence at this stage because if the evidence

given by PW.62 is considered, it amounts to

appreciating the evidence. It does not lie within

the jurisdiction of this court while deciding the :: 4 ::

appeal preferred against rejection of application

for bail.

3. Sri. Vishal B.M. opposes the appeal by

arguing that the appellant is the main accused and

on earlier occasions his six applications for bail

stood dismissed. Now also there are no grounds

for granting bail.

4. Though the prosecution has invoked the

KCOCA Act, it remains a fact that the appellant

has been in custody for the last 6 ½ years. The

maximum sentence that can be imposed in relation

to offence under sections 380 and 381 IPC is

seven years and for the offence under the KCOCA,

the imprisonment period should not be less than

five years. Since the appellant has spent 6 ½

years in jail and as it appears that the trial may

not be completed within a few months, it is

desirable to grant bail to the appellant. Hence the

following:

:: 5 ::

ORDER

Appeal is allowed.

The order passed by the Prl.City

Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru

dated 10.08.2022 in Spl.

C.C.No.417/2016 is set aside.

The appellant is admitted to bail on

obtaining from him a bond for

Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakhs only)

and two sureties for the likesum to the

satisfaction of the trial court. The

appellant is also subjected to following

conditions:-

i.    He     shall        not    tamper            with    the
      evidence             collected              by       the
      investigating         officer         and     threaten
      the witnesses.

ii. He shall regularly appear before the trial court till conclusion of the trial.

:: 6 ::

iii. Till conclusion of the trial, the appellant shall mark his attendance before the jurisdictional police once in 15 days, preferably on Sunday between 9 am and 12 noon.

iv. He shall not get involved in any other criminal case/s in future. In case of any FIR is registered against him or if he violates any of the bail conditions, the same will be considered for cancellation of bail.

Sd/-

JUDGE sd