Gauhati High Court
Jiten Kalita vs The State Of Assam on 8 September, 2022
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No.# 1/3
GAHC010180802022
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : AB/2616/2022
JITEN KALITA
S/O- LT. GOLAK CHANDRA KALITA, PERMANENT R/O- VILL- MUGURIYA,
P.S. PATACHARKUCHI, DIST.- BAJALI, ASSAM
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM
REP. BY P.P., ASSAM
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. S BORA
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
08.09.2022 Heard Mr. S. Bora, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. B. Sarma, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent State of Assam.
2. By this application under Section 438, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC], the petitioner viz. Sri Jiten Kalita has approached this Court seeking the benefit of pre-arrest bail, Page No.# 2/3 apprehending his arrest, in connection with Kamalpur Police Station Case no. 130/2022 registered under Section 379, Indian Penal Code [IPC].
3. The informant in the First Information Report [FIR], lodged on 25.08.2022, has inter alia stated that he is the owner of a vehicle bearing registration no. AS-25/EC-1560 [truck]. On 21.08.2022, the driver handed over the keys of the vehicle to him leaving the truck at his house premises citing the reason ground that he would leave for Kalgasia. On 23.08.2022, the informant received a call from a businessman from Tinsukia, who alleged that the truck after loading empty cartoons at Tinsukia, did to deliver the empty cartoons at Tezpur. With the allegation that the empty cartoons were sold to ECOTECH, Kamalpur by one M/s S.M. Enterprise through a middleman from Pathsala, the FIR has been lodged.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that in the FIR, the phone number of the petitioner has been mentioned as the phone number of the middleman. It is also submitted by him that the petitioner is a businessman and the proprietor of M/s G.C.K Traders, which deals in scrap items on the basis of a trade license issued by Pathsala Municipal Board. It is further submitted by him that in between 21.08.2022/22.08.2022, he received a WhatsApp message from one of his known person asking the petitioner as to whether he would be interested to buy empty cartoons. The petitioner declined the offer and directed the sender of the WhatsApp message to contact one of the petitioner's known scrap dealer, M/s S.M. Enterprise. With such projection, Mr. Bora has submitted that the petitioner is no way involved in the sale process of the empty cartoons alleged in the FIR.
5. Having regard to the allegations made in the FIR and the above projections made on behalf of the petitioner, it is provided, in the interim, that in the event of arrest of the petitioner viz. Sri Jiten Kalita in connection with Kamalpur Police Station Case no. 130/2022, he shall be released on bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 10,000/- with one local surety of the like amount, to the satisfaction of the arresting authority subject to the conditions that :
[i] the petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer [I.O.] of the case within 10 [ten] days from today and shall cooperate with the investigation and Page No.# 3/3 shall thereafter, make himself available as and when his presence is required by the I.O. in the investigation of the case;
[ii] the petitioner shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any witness acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer; and [iii] the petitioner shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not to play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police.
List the case on 23.09.2022 for production of the concerned case diary.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant