Allahabad High Court
Sonu Alias Pratap Singh Alias Sompal ... vs State Of U.P. And Another on 29 March, 2024
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:54209 Court No. - 76 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 1946 of 2024 Applicant :- Sonu Alias Pratap Singh Alias Sompal Singh Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Narendra Kumar,Sitendra Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Sameer Jain,J.
1. Sri Pradeep Kumar, learned AGA for the State apprised the Court that he has received instructions in the present matter, therefore, the instant anticipatory bail application may be disposed of on merit.
2. Supplementary affidavit filed today on behalf of the applicant is taken on record.
3. Heard Sri Narendra Kumar, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Pradeep Kumar, learned A.G.A. for the State.
4. The present anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant in F.I.R./Case Crime No. 224 of 2023, under Sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471, 323, 506 IPC, Police Station Purkaji, District Muzaffarnagar, with a prayer to enlarge him on anticipatory bail.
5. FIR of the present case was lodged against applicant and others and according to the FIR, applicant along with other accused persons induced the informant to provide him job in Defence Ministry. It is further mentioned in the FIR that co-accused Nishu duped Rs. 5.5 lacs from the informant and he along with co-accused Vishal Rathore provided an appointment letter to the informant, which was forged.
6. Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that there is no allegation against the applicant in the FIR with regard to receiving any money and very casually, he was made accused in the present matter. He further submitted that principal accused Nishu and Vishal have already been released on anticipatory bail by this Court and their bail orders have been annexed as Annexure No. 5 to the affidavit. He further submitted that case of applicant is even at better footing than co-accused Nishu and Vishal.
7. He further submitted that however, apart from the present case, applicant was made accused in three other cases including one case under Section 302 IPC but in case under Section 302 IPC after investigation no charge sheet was filed against the applicant and in remaining two cases, he is on bail.
8. He further submitted that investigation of the present case is still pending and police is trying to arrest the applicant.
9. Per contra, learned A.G.A. however, opposed the prayer for grant of anticipatory bail but could not dispute the argument on facts advanced by learned counsel for the applicant.
10. I have heard both the parties and perused the record of the case.
11. However, it appears that apart form the present case, applicant was also made accused in three other cases including one case under Section 302 IPC but it appears, in case under Section 302 IPC after investigation no charge sheet was filed against the applicant and in remaining two cases, he is on bail.
12. As far as merit of the case is concerned, it appears that very casually, applicant was made accused in the present matter and principal accused Nishu and Vishal have already been released on anticipatory bail by this Court.
13. Further, investigation of the case is still pending and apprehension of arrest raised by applicant cannot be completely ruled out.
14. Therefore, considering the facts and circumstances of the case discussed above, in my view applicant is entitled to be released on anticipatory bail till conclusion of trial.
15. Accordingly, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the instant anticipatory bail application is allowed.
16. In the event of arrest of the applicant, Sonu Alias Pratap Singh Alias Sompal Singh involved in the aforesaid case crime number, shall be released on bail till the conclusion of trial on furnishing a personal bond with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Presiding Officer/Court Concerned, with the conditions that:-
i. that the applicant shall make himself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required;
ii. that the applicant shall not, directly or indirectly 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 court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence;
iii. that the applicant shall not leave India without previous permission of the court;
iv. that the applicant shall not tamper with the evidence during the trial;
v. that the applicant shall not pressurize/ intimidate the prosecution witness;
vi. that the applicant shall appear before the trial court on each date fixed unless personal presence is exempted;
17. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the court concerned shall have the liberty to cancel the bail granted to the applicant.
18. It is made clear that observations made in granting anticipatory bail to the applicant shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses.
Order Date :- 29.3.2024 KK Patel