Gujarat High Court
Balubha Pabubha Ker vs State Of Gujarat on 26 July, 2023
Author: Gita Gopi
Bench: Gita Gopi
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/4235/2022 ORDER DATED: 26/07/2023
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC. APPLICATION NO. 4235 of 2022
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BALUBHA PABUBHA KER
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT
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Appearance:
MR RAJESH K SAVJANI(2225) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR HRIDAY BUCH(2372) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
NOTICE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 3
MS JIRGA JHAVERI, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE GITA GOPI
Date : 26/07/2023
ORAL ORDER
1. Prayer is made by the complainant for cancellation of bail for the offence punishable under Sections 7, 13(1)(a) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (the Act). The case is registered before the ACB Police Station, Devbhumi Dwarka being CR No. I-3 of 2021. The complaint came to be filed on the ground that the complainant and two of his friends for the purpose of protection of agriculture field made an application for weapon and it was stated Page 1 of 5 Downloaded on : Sat Sep 16 23:02:38 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/4235/2022 ORDER DATED: 26/07/2023 undefined that the respondent No. 2 - Deputy Collector, demanded an amount of Rs.3 lakh (for each application Rs.1 lakh), for favourable consideration of the applications. The complainant stated that the conversation had been electronically recorded and thereafter, on complaint being filed before the competent authority, a trap was laid down and in execution of such trap, the respondent No. 2 was found having accepted the amount of Rs.3 lakh and recovery of the said amount was from the chamber of the Deputy Collector, Dwarka. He came to be arrested thereafter. The cancellation of bail has been sought on the ground of gravity of charge and that the Investigating Officer (IO) has not placed on record the details of disproportionate assets of the accused and the regular bail came to be granted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Devbhumi Dwarka on a conclusion that the Charge-sheet has been filed and all the papers were recovered and nothing remains to be investigated.
2. Learned advocate Mr. Rajesh K. Savjani for the applicant, de facto complainant, submitted that when the bail came to be granted, voice spectrography of the accused and the witnesses was yet to be Page 2 of 5 Downloaded on : Sat Sep 16 23:02:38 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/4235/2022 ORDER DATED: 26/07/2023 undefined done, in spite of that the learned Sessions Judge came to the conclusion that that would not affect the evidence in relation to the pending investigation qua the disproportionate assets which is said to be in process. The learned advocate for the applicant submitted that there is a breach of condition since the accused has not cooperated with the IO.
2.1 The learned advocate for the applicant has relied upon a decision of the coordinate Bench of this Court dated 23.09.2022 passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 15116 of 2017 between Central Bureau of Investigation v. State of Gujarat and 1 Other.
3. Learned advocate Mr. Hriday Buch for the respondent No. 2 - accused submitted that as such it was a trap and states that on completion of the trap, the panchnama was drawn and further states that it was a case of demand, acceptance and recovery and the Charge-sheet has been filed and the accused had been in jail from 14.10.2021 to 28.12.2021 and the voice spectrography has already been concluded and thus, the learned advocate for the respondent Page 3 of 5 Downloaded on : Sat Sep 16 23:02:38 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/4235/2022 ORDER DATED: 26/07/2023 undefined No. 2 stated that there is no any supervening circumstances brought to the notice of this Court or any ground to consider for cancellation of bail.
4. The learned advocate for the applicant refers to the affidavit of the respondent No. 3 - Janakbhai M. Aal, Police Inspector, ACB Police Station, Morbi, who has noted in his affidavit that the accused is not cooperating the IO and is not giving voice sample to the FSL, Rajkot.
4.1 The affidavit is of the respondent No. 3, which is dated 23.01.2023. As per record and as submitted by the learned advocate for the respondent No. 2, the learned Magistrate had passed an order on 01.02.2023 and it was on the consent of the respondent No. 2 - accused that order was made for voice spectrography test and accordingly, the said test was conducted. 4.2 The accused had given consent for taking his voice sample and it is under the order of the learned Magistrate, the voice Page 4 of 5 Downloaded on : Sat Sep 16 23:02:38 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/4235/2022 ORDER DATED: 26/07/2023 undefined spectrography test was conducted and hence, there was no reason for the IO for making any complaint.
5. Further, it is to be noted that the prayer for cancellation of bail has not been made by the IO while it is only by the de facto complainant who would have no further role to play on the completion of the raid and when the panchnama has already been recorded.
6. For the observations and discussion made herein above, this Court does not find any reason to cancel the bail and hence, the application is rejected. Notice is discharged. Pending application, if any, shall stand disposed of.
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