Allahabad High Court
Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta vs State Of U.P. on 17 May, 2022
Author: Rajeev Misra
Bench: Rajeev Misra
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 34 1. Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 52373 of 2021 Applicant :- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Deepak Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Farid Ahmed 2. Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 42637 of 2021 Applicant :- Mohd. Ahmad Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Deepak Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Farid Ahmed 3. Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 47778 of 2021 Applicant :- Imran @ Gufran Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Rahul Kumar Tripathi,Dhirendra Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Farid Ahmed Hon'ble Rajeev Misra,J.
1. Heard Mr. Deepak Singh, the learned counsel for applicants- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta and Mohd. Ahmed, Mr. Rahul Kumar Tripathi, the learned counsel for applicant- Imran @ Gufran, the learned A.G.A. for State and Mr. Fareed Ahmed, the learned counsel for first informant.
2. Perused the record.
3. These applications for bail have been filed by applicants- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta, Mohd. Ahmad and Imran @ Gufran seeking their enlargement on bail in Case Crime No.427 of 2021, under sections- 302/34 I.P.C., Police Station- Naubasta, District- Kanpur Nagar, during the pendecy of trial.
4. Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.42637 of 2021 (Mohd. Ahmad Vs. State of U.P.) came up for orders on 25.11.2021 and this Court passed following order:-
"F.I.R. itself discloses that CCTV Cameras were installed near the place of occurrence. In the circumstances, investigating officer is hereby directed to produce the evidence collected through the said CCTV footage. Put up this case on 9.12.2021 as fresh."
5. Subsequently, aforementioned bail application was listed on 04.02.2022 and this Court passed following order:-
"Heard Mr. Deepak Singh, learned counsel for applicant, learned A.G.A. for State and Mr. Farid Ahmed, learned counsel for first informant, who are connected virtually. At the very outset, learned A.G.A. submits that following bail applications filed by co-accused are already pending before this Court. Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.47778 of 2021 (Imran @ Gufran Vs. State of U.P.). Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.52373 of 2021 (Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta Vs. State of U.P.). In view of above, connect aforementioned criminal misc. bail applications along with this bail application. Matter shall re-appear as fresh on 14.02.2022 along with connected matters."
6. Pursuant to above order dated 04.02.2022, aforementioned bail applications stood connected and have now been listed together. Since all the above-mentioned bail applications arise out of same case crime number, they have been heard together and are now been disposed of finally by a common order.
7. Record shows that in respect of an incident, which is alleged to have occurred on 04.06.2021, a delayed F.I.R. dated 05.06.2021 was lodged by first informant- Smt. Shabeena Begum (wife of deceased) and was registered as Case Crime No.427 of 2021, under section- 302 I.P.C., Police Station- Naubasta, District- Kanpur Nagar. In the aforesaid F.I.R., two persons namely Imran @ Gufran and Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta have been nominated as named accused, whereas one unknown person has also been arraigned as an accused.
8. The gravamen of the allegations made in the F.I.R., which is on the basis of here-say evidence, is to the effect that named accused have caused death of the husband of first informant by crushing him with a four wheeler repeatedly.
9. After lodging of aforementioned F.I.R., Investigating Officer proceeded with statutory investigation of concerned case crime number in terms of Chapter XII Cr.P.C. The inquest of the body of deceased was conducted on 04.06.2021. In the opinion of witnesses of inquest (panch witnesses), the nature of death of deceased was characterized as accidental. Subsequent to above, the post-mortem of the body of deceased was conducted on the next day i.e. 05.06.2021. In the opinion of Autopsy Surgeon, the cause of death of deceased was shock and hemorrhage due to ante-mortem injuries. The Autopsy Surgeon found following ante-mortem injuries on the body of deceased:-
"(a) Abraded contusion 4 x 3 cm on top of left shoulder.
(b) Abraded contusion 3 x 2 cm lateral part of left elbow joint.
(c) Abraded contusion 6 x 4 cm back of left writ joint upto dorsum of left hand.
(d) Contused swelling 15 x 10 cm left side chest 2 to 6th ribs trachea on left side.
(e) Abraded contusion 4 x 3 cm back of rt. wrist joint."
10. During course of investigation, Investigating Officer examined first informant and other witnesses namely Govind Trivedi (eye-witness), Machla Devi (eye-witness), Govind Kannaujiya (eye-witness), Sawat Pathak (eye-witness), Nitish Dwivedi (eye-witness), Ajay Kumar Saxena, Mohammad Riyaz and Ritika Agarwal. On the basis of above and other material collected by Investigating Officer, upto this stage of investigation, he came to the conclusion that apart from the complicity of named accused Imran @ Gufran and Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta, the complicity of Mohd. Ahmad is also apparent in the crime in question. He accordingly arrested above named accused on the same day i.e. 09.06.2021. After arrest of aforesaid accused, the offending vehicle i.e. Creta car bearing Registration No. UP 78 EW 4172 was recovered on the pointing of above named accused on 09.06.2021.
11. In the course of investigation, Investigating Officer also collected the CCTV footage from concerned location. Same is evident from parcha no.1 of the case diary. In compliance of order dated 25.11.2021 passed by this Court, an affidavit of compliance has been filed by learned A.G.A. annexing along with the same the C.D. of the CCTV footage. Investigating Officer also collected the call detail report of applicants, which also goes to show that dialogue was going on between accused prior to occurrence.
12. Ultimately, on the basis of above as well as other material collected by Investigating Officer, during course of investigation, he came to the conclusion that complicity of aforementioned accused is prima-facie established in the crime in question. Accordingly, Investigating Officer opined to submit a charge-sheet. Resultantly, aforesaid accused were charge-sheeted under sections 302/34 I.P.C. vide charge-sheet dated 19.08.2021.
13. Mr. Deepak Singh, learned counsel for applicants- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta and Mohd. Ahmad contends that applicant- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta is a named as well as charge-sheeted accused, whereas applicant- Mohd. Ahmad is not named in the F.I.R., but a charge-sheeted accused. However, irrespective of above, they are innocent.
14. It is then contended that from perusal of F.I.R., it is clear that first informant is not an eye-witness of the occurrence. The F.I.R. has been lodged on the basis of here-say evidence. As such, prosecution case is highly improbable. It is next contended that in the F.I.R. no specific role has been assigned to any of the charge-sheeted accused in the commission of crime in question. The driver of offending vehicle has not been nominated specifically in the F.I.R. As such, applicants are entitled to the benefit of doubt at this stage. It is further contended that death of deceased is an accidental death and, therefore, the prosecution of applicants, if any, is liable to be under section 304A I.P.C. and not under section 302/34 I.P.C. Even otherwise, applicants are men of clean antecedents, inasmuch as, they have no criminal history to their credit except the present one. Applicant- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta is in jail since 08.06.2021, whereas applicant- Mohd. Ahmad is in jail since 09.06.2021. As such, they have undergone sufficient period of incarceration. It is thus urged that applicants are liable to be enlarged on bail. In case, they are enlarged on bail, they shall not misuse the liberty of bail and shall co-operate with the trial.
15. Mr. Rahul Kumar Tripathi, the learned counsel for applicant- Imran @ Gufran has substantially adopted the arguments of Mr. Deepak Singh, the learned counsel for applicants- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta and Mohd. Ahmed. He however contends that applicant Imran @ Gufran is a named as well as charge-sheeted accused. He further submits that the offending vehicle was being driven by applicant Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta, as such no mensrea can be attached to applicants- Imran @ Gufran as well as Mohd. Ahmad. No motive can be attached to aforesaid applicants to commit the crime in question, nor there is any established animosity with the deceased against aforesaid applicants. There is nothing on record to show that there was meetings of mind to commit the crime in question. As such, no mensrea can be attracted to aforesaid applicants for committing the crime in question. Applicant- Imran @ Gufran is a man of clean antecedents, inasmuch as, he has no criminal history to his credit except the present one. Applicant- Imran @ Gufran is in jail since 09.06.2021. As such, he has undergone sufficient period of incarceration. It is thus urged that applicant- Imran @ Gufran is liable to be enlarged on bail. In case, he is enlarged on bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail and shall co-operate with the trial.
16. Per contra, the learned A.G.A. and Mr. Fareed Ahmed, the learned counsel for first informant have opposed these bail applications. They jointly contend that applicants are named and charge-sheeted accused as well as charge-sheeted accused. As such, they do not deserve any sympathy of this Court. It is then contended that complicity of applicants in the crime in question is on the basis of ocular version of occurrence as explicit in the statements of five eye-witnesses of the occurrence namely Govind Trivedi, Machla Devi, Govind Kannaujiya, Sawat Pathak and Nitish Dwivedi. There is no such material on record on the basis of which, the statements of above-mentioned eye-witnesses could be ignored on account of credibility or reliability of above named eye-witnesses. It is further contended that no enmity has been pleaded against the eye-witnesses of occurrence and, therefore there is nothing on record on the basis of which it can be deduced that the eye-witnesses are inimical witnesses. The deceased has died on account of repeated run over made by the offending vehicle on his person. As such, the death of deceased is the outcome of repeated and deliberate acts of accused-applicants and not on account of an accident. As such, applicants have been rightly charge-sheeted under sections 302/34 I.P.C. It has come in the statements of eye-witnesses that the offending vehicle was being driven by applicant- Ramji Gupta @ Sarvan Kumar Gupta, whereas other two named accused Mohd. Ahmad and Imran @ Gufran were the co-passengers of the offending vehicle. The plea raised on behalf of other two accused namely Mohd. Ahmad and Imran @ Gufran that there is no mensrea on the part of these applicants to commit the crime in question is of no consequence as presence of aforesaid applicants in the offending vehicle at the time and place of occurrence, is clearly established as per the statements of eye-witnesses. The varied submissions urged on behalf of accused Mohd. Ahmad and Imran @ Gufran regarding their innocence are only fanciful doubts as the same do not disclose the reason for their presence in the offending vehicle at the time of occurrence. On the aforesaid premise, it is thus urged that applicants do not deserve any indulgence by this Court. The bail applications are therefore liable to be rejected.
17. Having heard learned counsel for applicants, the learned A.G.A. for State, the learned counsel for first informant, upon perusal of record, accusations made and complicity of accused, this Court does not find any good or justifiable ground to enlarge the applicants on bail.
18. In view of above, present bail applications fail and are liable to be rejected.
19. They are accordingly rejected Order Date :- 17.5.2022 Saif