Allahabad High Court
Vivek Singh Katta vs State Of U.P. And Another on 12 April, 2023
Author: Raj Beer Singh
Bench: Raj Beer Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 77 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 43573 of 2022 Applicant :- Vivek Singh Katta Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Siddhartha Baghel,Karunesh Pratap Singh,Prateek Mishra,Sr. Advocate Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Sunil Kumar Singh Hon'ble Raj Beer Singh,J.
Supplementary affidavit filed by learned counsel for the applicant today, is taken on record.
Heard Sri V.M. Jaidi, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Sri Karunesh Pratap Singh, learned counsel for the applicant-accused, learned counsel for the informant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
The present bail application has been filed by the applicant-accused involved in Case Crime No. 145 of 2020, under Sections 302, 307, 120-B, 147, 148, 149, 216A IPC and 3/25/27 of Arms Act, P.S. Jaitpura, District Varanasi with the prayer to enlarge him on bail.
According to prosecution version, on 28.08.2020 at 10.30 AM while informant's nephew Abhishek @ Prince (deceased) was going on his motorcycle to Chandauli Court and one Deepak Gaur was also accompanying him, near Chaukaghat Kali Mandir, some miscreants made firing at deceased and resultantly, Abhishek @ Prince, Deepak Gaur and one passerby sustained gun shot injuries and Abhishek @ Prince and Balmiki Gaur died of gun shot injuries. The first information report was lodged against Shardul Singh, Shiveshwar Rai and one unknown person and it was alleged by the informant that they were having enmity with deceased on account of property dispute. It appears that during investigation involvement of applicant-accused and co-accused persons was found.
It has been argued by learned Senior Advocate for the applicant-accused that applicant-accused is innocent and he has been falsely implicated in this case. The applicant accused in not named in the FIR. Learned Senior Advocate submits that during investigation on the basis of some information from informer, police came to the conclusion that applicant-accused has planned the murder of deceased due to old enmity and that he has got murdered the deceased from shooters. The informant is not an eye witness of alleged incident and he has not named the applicant-accused and according to informant, alleged Shardul Singh and Shiveshwar Rai have enmity with deceased. During investigation, statement of Reeta Gaur, wife of deceased Balmiki was recorded, who claimed herself as eye-witness, and she has stated that persons sitting on motorcycle have made firing at her husband and one person was lying near Kali Mandir. Witness Rajesh Singh has allegedly identified the applicant by stating that he was sitting on the front seat of car and one Ravi Pratap Singh was driving the said car but he could not specify the shooters, who were on the motorcycle. The statement of injured Deepak Gaur was also referred but he has not named the applicant. Referring to statements of witnesses recorded during investigation, it was submitted that there is no credible evidence that applicant was involved in the incident of murder of deceased persons or that he was part of any criminal conspiracy. There is inordinate delay in lodging of the FIR and that involvement of applicant was shown merely on the basis of information of some unknown informer. The version of informant that at the time of his earlier statement he was under fear and thus, he could not mention the name of real accused in the FIR, is highly improbable. The statement of injured Deepak Gaur was recorded after about two months of the alleged incident. The alleged witness Rajesh Singh has not clarified as to how he could identify the applicant. The criminal history shown against applicant-accused, has duly been explained in supplementary affidavit. It was further submitted that applicant-accused is languishing in jail since 14.09.2020, and that in case the applicant-accused is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail and cooperate in the trial.
Learned A.G.A. and learned counsel for the first informant have opposed the prayer for bail and argued that applicant is main accused and the entire incident has taken place at his instance. In the alleged incident, two persons were murdered and one was injured in broad day light in the mid of city. It was pointed out that applicant-accused was continuously in touch with co-accused persons and he has talked with co-accused Ravi Pratap Singh for 713 times, with co-accused Vijendra Singh for 133 times, with co-accused Hemant Singh for 1220 times, with co-accused Abhishek Singh @ Hanny for 151 times, with co-accused Shashwat Singh for 61 times, with co-accused Prabhakar Upadhyay for 430 times, with co-accused Vishal Singh for 36 times, and with co-accused Abhinav Singh for one time. The applicant is main accused and he is gang leader. Referring to the statement of witnesses and C.C.T.V. footage, it was submitted that applicant-accused was present near the spot in a swift car. The deceased Abhishek @ Prince was got murdered by the applicant-accused from the shooters and that applicant was also present at the spot in a swift car and he was directing the entire sequence of events and applicant has also fired a shot in order to disperse the public persons. The pistol was also recovered from applicant-accused. Referring to statement of accused persons, it was pointed out that deceased Abhishek @ Prince was murdered in a well planned manner and in the said incident one more person has died due to the fire-arm injuries and one other person has sustained injuries. The whole conspiracy was hatched by the applicant-accused and he was involved in the incident. It is further submitted that applicant-accused has long criminal history of 12 cases.
Considering the submissions of learned counsel for the parties, nature of accusations, gravity of offence and all attending facts and circumstances of the case, the applicant-accused is not entitled to be enlarged on bail. Hence, the bail application of applicant-accused is hereby rejected.
Order Date :- 12.4.2023 Neeraj