Gauhati High Court
Md Abdul Hannan Ali @ Bablu vs The State Of Assam on 7 September, 2021
Author: Ajit Borthakur
Bench: Ajit Borthakur
Page No.# 1/4
GAHC010129952021
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : Bail Appln./1916/2021
MD ABDUL HANNAN ALI @ BABLU
S/O MD. FARID ALI
VILL- ADHAR SATRA
P.S. GOLAGHAT
DIST. GOLAGHAT
ASSAM
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM
REP. BY THE PP
ASSAM
------------
Advocate for : MR H R A CHOUDHURY
Advocate for : PP
ASSAM appearing for THE STATE OF ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AJIT BORTHAKUR
ORDER
07.09.2021 Heard Mr. H.R.A. Choudhury, learned Sr. Counsel appearing for the accused petitioner as well as Mr. D. Das, learned Addl. P.P., Assam appearing for the Page No.# 2/4 State respondent.
By this petition under Section 439 Cr.P.C., the accused-petitioner, namely Md. Abdul Hannan Ali @Bablu has prayed for grant of bail in connection with Bongaigaon P.S. Case No. 460/2021 under Sections 120B/413/420/468/471 of the IPC.
The case diary, as called for, is placed before the Court.
Mr. H.R.A. Choudhury, learned Sr. Counsel appearing for the accused petitioner, contends that the accused has been in judicial custody for 50 days since 19.07.2021. It is also contended that two co-accused persons have already been given the benefit of pre-arrest bail and as such, subject to any condition, the present accused may be directed to be released on bail.
Mr. D. Das, learned Addl. P.P., submits that the case diary reveals sufficient incriminating evidence against the accused.
The F.I.R. dated 26.05.2021 lodged by S.I. Swapan Kr. Ray of Bongaigaon P.S. reveals the allegation that based on a specific input about illegal transportation of suspected Burmese Supari, on 23.05.2021, one truck bearing registration number AS01LC-1276 loaded with 223 bags of suspected Burmese supari along with two numbers of Challan and tax invoice dated 11.05.2021 and 18.05.2021 respectively in the name of consignor M/S Maa Kali Enterprise of Bijni Town, Chirang were recovered and seized at Goraimari. On enquiry, it was found that the truck owner brought the suspected Burmese supari illegally to keep the same at the house of one Swapan Sarkar. Accordingly, a search operation was conducted where a total of 140 bags of suspected Burmese supari were recovered and a setup was found for adulteration of the suparis, but the owner Swapan Sarkar managed to escape before the arrival of police. In Page No.# 3/4 the continuous search operation, 9 bags of suspected Burmese supari from a nearby house and 61 bags from an abandoned makeshift location at Chouraguri paddy field were recovered and seized. During preliminary enquiry, it was learnt that said Swapan Sarkar along with one Manik Saha, the owner of M/S Maa Kali Enterprise, one Kurban Ali, the owner of the seized truck habitually deals in stolen Burmese supari. The above racket under criminal conspiracy stolen Burmese supari by evading custom duty and thereafter, changed the colour and adulterated their colour like local areca nuts by cooking with some chemical and transported and sold the same in various places by using fake documents. The chemical used for adulteration was also seized by the police.
On scrutiny of the case diary, it is revealed that the accused is the proprietor of a firm and deals in Burmese areca nuts as purchaser and supplier. He pays income-tax. The F.S.L. report on sample of seized supari shows positive tests for arecoline (alkaloid found in areca nut without any harmful chemical). The seized supari prima facie belonged to the accused. However, it is seen that the investigation has substantially progressed. Therefore, this Court finds that if the liberty of bail is granted to the accused, the ongoing investigation is unlikely to be adversely affected.
Accordingly, it is provided that the accused petitioner, named above, shall be released on bail of Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand) with one surety of like amount to the satisfaction of the learned C.J.M., Bongaigaon subject to the following conditions-
i) That the accused/petitioner shall cooperate with the Investigating Officer as and when required;
ii) That the accused/petitioner shall not directly or indirectly Page No.# 4/4 make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Police Officer or the Court; and
iii) That the accused/petitioner shall refrain from committing any offences similar to the one of which he is accused or suspected of commission.
Return the case diary.
This disposes of the bail application.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant