Bombay High Court
Somnath Hindrao Sathe vs The State Of Maharashtra on 18 December, 2020
Author: Bharati Dangre
Bench: Bharati Dangre
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.1306 OF 2020
Somnath Hindrao Sathe .. Applicant
Vs.
The State of Maharashtra .. Respondent
...
Mr. H.V. Kenjalkar with Mr. Minal Kamble for the Applicant.
Ms. M.M. Deshmukh, A.P.P. for the State.
...
CORAM : SMT. BHARATI DANGRE, J.
DATED : 18TH DECEMBER, 2020.
P.C:-
1. The Applicant seeks his release on bail in C.R. No.305 of
2020 and advance a submission that the role attributed to him is
limited, of being present at the scene of offence when the offences
under Sections 384 and 395 of the IPC are alleged to have been
committed. C.R. No.305 of 2020 is registered with Vaduj Police
Station, Pune on 26/09/2020 thereby invoking Sections 384, 395
and 420 of the IPC against five accused persons and the Applicant
is implicated as Accused No.5.
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2. The FIR is lodged by one Pradip Shinde, who has alleged that
in the year 2016 his brother Sandip Shinde had purchased one
dumper of Ashok Leyland Company from one Balasaheb Irle. In
the year 2020, he sold the dumper to one Ganesh Satpute for
Rs.14,55,000/- by a notarized document. At that time, Ganesh
Satpute had deposited an amount of Rs.4,65,000/- with the
Shriram Finance Company and promised to pay the remaining
amount within one month. A blank cheque in the name of Nilesh
Jadhav drawn on HDFC Bank was also issued. In terms of the
promise, the money was not paid and, therefore, he questioned him
and got a reply that the dumper is not being hired and, there is no
income from it. The allegation is that Ganesh Satpute was evading
payment. This resulted into a complaint being filed by
Complainant in Atpadi Police Station. He was called to the police
station for the purpose of interrogation. At that time, Nilesh
Jadhav and Atul Pawar had come there. They threatened him that
if he wants the money, he should pay Rs.50,000/- to them
otherwise he will have to forgo the balance amount. He borrowed
an amount of Rs.10,000/- from his friend and paid the same to the
duo. They also threatened him to arrange for the balance amount
of Rs.40,000/- and only then he will get the amount due from
Ganesh Satpute. The finance company was also behind the
Complainant to repay the loan amount which constrained him to
approach Ganesh Satpute. At that time, Atul Pawar, Nilesh Jadhav
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and Sachin Jadhav and the present Applicant were present there.
Nilesh Jadhav and Atul Pawar again threatened him to pay the
remaining Rs.40,000/- and when he pleaded before them, he was
assaulted by Nilesh Jadhv. Another incident is reported to be on
25/09/2020 when the Complainant along with his brother Sandip
and Appa Jadhav telephoned Ganesh Satpute for payment, but he
did not answer the phone. Nilesh was then contacted and they
were asked to come near Vaduj ST stand. When they approached
there, the Applicant along with two unknown persons arrived in a
black coloured Fortuner vehicle and it is alleged that the
Complainant, his brother Sandip and his friend Appa Jadhav were
verbally abused saying that how they have come to ask for money
and they should first pay Rs.40,000/-. Sachin Jadhav is alleged to
have removed Rs.3,000/- from the pocket of the Applicant. It is
alleged that they were also threatened with dire consequences. This
is the precise allegation in the FIR and the role attributed to the
Applicant.
3. Prima facie by referring to the FIR, it cannot be said that the
Applicant is alleged to have done any extortion warranting
invocation of Section 384 of the IPC. As far as offence under
Section 395 of the IPC is concerned, the Applicant cannot be
implicated in the said offence. Further, as regards offence under
Section 420 of the IPC is concerned, the FIR does not disclose any
material against the Applicant, at this stage.
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4. Accepting that the FIR is not an encyclopedia and the
investigation carried out pursuant to the FIR will have to be looked
into while granting the application for bail, learned A.P.P. was not
able to place on record any material other than the one mentioned
above, qua the present Applicant. He has been arrested on
26/09/2020 i.e. the day on which the offence was registered. He
was remanded to police custody till 01/10/2020 and the police had
an opportunity to interrogate him. In the light of the aforesaid
facts, I am of the opinion that there is no need for the continuation
of the custody of the Applicant and he is entitled to be released on
bail. However, since the investigation is not complete, stipulation
that he will cooperate with the investigation, the following order
will meet the ends of justice.
ORDER
(a) The Applicant - Somnath Hindrao Sathe, shall be released on bail in C.R. No.305 of 2020 is registered with Vaduj Police Station, District Pune on executing P.R. bond to the extent of Rs.25,000/- and furnishing one or two sureties of the like amount.
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(c) The Applicant shall co-operate with the investigation and attend to the Police Station as and when required by the Investigating Officer.
5. The Application is allowed in the aforestated terms.
6. All parties are directed to act on the downloaded copy of the order supplied by the Advocate under his seal and signature.
SMT. BHARATI DANGRE, J.
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