Madhya Pradesh High Court
Vishal vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 16 August, 2022
Author: Subodh Abhyankar
Bench: Subodh Abhyankar
MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022
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High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur
Bench at Indore
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE SUBODH ABHYANKAR
ON THE 16TH OF AUGUST, 2022
Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37091/2022
Between: -
Pooja Thapa D/o Shri Til Bahadur Thapa,
Age- 51 years, Occupation- Business,
R/o: 179, LIG, Vikas Nagar, Dewas, District Dewas (MP)
.....APPLICANT
(By Shri Ravindra Singh Chhabra, learned Senior Counsel
assisted by Shri Mudit Maheshwari, Advocate)
AND
The State of Madhya Pradesh
Through Police Station Rau,
Indore, District Indore (MP)
.....RESPONDENT
(By Shri Akash Sharma, Government Advocate along with
Shri K.S. Bamaniya, Sub Inspector of Police, Police Station, Rau,
District Indore MP, Investigating Officer of the case)
Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.31102/2022
Between: -
Pawan Kumar Tiwari S/o Ramnath Tiwari,
Aged- 26 years, Occupation- Private Job,
R/o: Flat No.101, 315, Vasundhara Shri,
Opposite Mayur Hospital, Indore, District Indore (MP)
.....APPLICANT
(By Shri Rakesh Singh Bhadoria, Advocate)
AND
The State of Madhya Pradesh,
Through Police Station Rau,
Signature Not Verified
Signed by: RAMESH
CHANDRA PITHWE
Signing time: 18-08-2022
19:05:35
MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022
2
Indore District Indore (MP)
.....RESPONDENT
(By Shri Akash Sharma, Government Advocate along with
Shri K.S. Bamaniya, Sub Inspector of Police, Police Station, Rau,
District Indore MP, Investigating Officer of the case)
Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.36531/2022
Between: -
Vishal S/o Umesh Jaiswal,
Age- 29 years, Occupation- Business,
R/o: Barlai Road, Kshipra, Indore, District Indore (MP)
.....APPLICANT
(By Shri Ajinkya Patil, Advocate)
AND
The State of Madhya Pradesh
Through Police Station Rau,
Indore District Indore (MP)
.....RESPONDENT
(By Shri Akash Sharma, Government Advocate along with
Shri K.S. Bamaniya, Sub Inspector of Police, Police Station, Rau,
District Indore MP, Investigating Officer of the case)
Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37845/2022
Between: -
Prakash Bhatt S/o Purnanand Bhatt,
Age- 31 years, Occupation- Business,
R/o: N-211, Shubh Angan, Omax City, Indore District Indore (MP)
.....APPLICANT
(By Shri Manish Gupta, Advocate)
AND
The State of Madhya Pradesh
Through Police Station Rau,
Indore District Indore (MP)
.....RESPONDENT
(By Shri Akash Sharma, Government Advocate along with
Shri K.S. Bamaniya, Sub Inspector of Police, Police Station, Rau,
District Indore MP, Investigating Officer of the case)
...............................................................................................................................
Signature Not Verified
Signed by: RAMESH
CHANDRA PITHWE
Signing time: 18-08-2022
19:05:35
MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022
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This application (s) coming on for orders this day, the court
passed the following:
ORDER
They are heard. Perused the case diary / challan papers. This order shall also govern the disposal of Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37091/2022, Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.31102/2022, Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.36531/2022 and Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37845/2022, as these cases have arisen out of the same Crime No.311/2022 registered at Police Station Rau, Indore District Indore (MP).
These are the applicants' first applications under Section 439 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (except Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.36531/2022, which is the second bail application), as they have been arrested in connection with Crime No.311/2022 registered at Police Station Rau, Indore District Indore (MP) for offence punishable under Sections 420, 409, 467, 468, 471, 201 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and also under Section 6 (1) of Madhya Pradesh Nishepakon Ke Hiton Ka Sanrakshan Adhiniyam, 2000. First bail application of the applicant (Vishal S/o Umesh Jaiswal) Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.30465/2022 has already been dismissed by this Court vide order dated 04.07.2022 as withdrawn.
The applicants are in jail since 27.04.2022, 21.04.2022, 15.04.2022 and 18.04.2022 respectively.
The allegation against the applicants is that of fraud.
Signature Not Verified Signed by: RAMESH CHANDRA PITHWE Signing time: 18-08-2022 19:05:35MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022 4 It is alleged that the applicants conspired with each other and opened an Advisory Company in a fake name and lured the innocent investors to invest in the said Company, with a promise to give handsome returns.
Shri Ravindra Singh Chhabra, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Shri Mudit Maheshwari, learned counsel for the applicant in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37091/2022 has submitted that the main accused in the present case, Amit Joshi has already been released on bail by the trial Court itself vide order dated 25.05.2022, whereas other co-accused persons (Murli S/o Sudhama Patankar, Vinod Tiwari S/o Triyogi Tiwari, Amit Barfa S/o Mohan Lal Barfa and Anil Yadav S/o Late Shri Hardayal Singh Yadav) have also been granted bail by this Court in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.24079/2022, Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.24500/2022 and Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.24930/2022, Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.22948/2022 vide order dated 19.05.2022 and 13.06.2022 respectively (Annexure A5).
Shri Chhabra, learned Senior Counsel has also relied upon a decision of the Delhi High Court in the case of Navendu Babbar v. State of NCT of Delhi reported in 2020 SCC OnLine Del 2345 = (2020) 271 DLT 216 (para 18).
Thus, it is submitted that the present application be also allowed, as the charge sheet has already been filed and there is no incriminating material available on record to connect the applicant with the alleged offence, except memos prepared u/s.27 of the Signature Not Verified Signed by: RAMESH CHANDRA PITHWE Signing time: 18-08-2022 19:05:35 MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022 5 Evidence Act, 1872. It is further submitted that even assuming the case of the prosecution to be true, First Information Report (FIR) refers to an amount of Rs.3,87,000/- (rupees three lakh eighty seven thousand only) only. It is also submitted that the final conclusion of the trial is likely to take sufficiently long time.
Shri Rakesh Singh Bhadoria, learned counsel appearing for the applicant Pawan Kumar Tiwari in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.31102/2022 has submitted that ante-dated seizure memo has been prepared and the presence of the seizure witnesses is belied by the Roznamcha filed in the charge sheet only.
Similar submissions have also been advanced by the other learned counsel (Shri Ajinkya Patil and Shri Manish Gupta) appearing for the applicants (Vishal Jaiswal S/o Umesh Jaiswal and Prakash Bhatt S/o Purnanand Bhatt) in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.36531/2022 and Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37845/2022.
Shri Akash Sharma, learned Government Advocate appearing for the respondent / State assisted by the Investigating Officer of the case, Shri K.S. Bamaniya, Sub-Inspector of Police, Police Station, Rau, District Indore (MP), on the other hand, has opposed the prayer; and it is submitted that no case for grant of bail is made out, as the applicants have defrauded many innocent persons and looking to the seriousness of the offence and the fact that the other complainants have still to be traced by the Police and the documents still to be seized, the charge sheet has been filed Signature Not Verified Signed by: RAMESH CHANDRA PITHWE Signing time: 18-08-2022 19:05:35 MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022 6 reserving rights under Section 173 (8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
It is further submitted that huge quantity of cash and other movable and immovable property has been seized from the present applicants and even though their names have not been mentioned by the complainants, however, their involvement is apparent from the various documents seized and the memos prepared at the instance of other accused persons as also the material seized from the applicants.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the case diary as well as other documents placed on record.
It is true that the other co-accused persons in the present case have already been granted bail but the question is whether the applicants can claim parity with them?
In the case of co-accused Vinod Tiwari S/o Triyogi Tiwari whose bail application has been allowed by this Court in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.24500/2022 vide order dated 19.05.2022, this Court has noted the facts, as under: -
"The allegation against the applicant is that he along with the other co-accused persons have fraudulently obtained crores of rupees from innocent investors on the pretext of giving them high returns and the modus operandi was that initially a fake financial advisory company was created by the co-accused persons namely Pawan @ Kamal Tiwari, Pooja Thapa, Prakash Bhatt and Vishal Jaiswal in partnership with each other, then they hired some people to make phone calls to various investors and to lure them by making false promises to them. The data regarding these customers was also provided by the other accused Anil Barfa and after the amount is credited Signature Not Verified Signed by: RAMESH CHANDRA PITHWE Signing time: 18-08-2022 19:05:35 MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022 7 by an investor in the account numbers provided by the company, the amount was withdrawn and was shared by the accused persons. The account holders were also given some share so that their account can be used for this fraudulent transaction.
It is alleged that the applicant used to make calls to the victims the investors and used to lure them to invest in the advisory firm."
(emphasis supplied) A perusal of the aforesaid facts which have already been noted by this Court in the case of other co-accused persons, it is apparent that, the present applicants, namely (Pooja Thapa D/o Shri Til Bahadur Thapa, Pawan Kumar Tiwari S/o Shri RamnathTiwari, Vishal Jaiswal S/o Umesh Jaiswal and Prakash Bhatt S/o Purnanand Bhatt) appear to be the main culprits in the case, who have run their entire nefarious operations behind the curtain; and now, they are claiming that their names have not been mentioned by the complainants. However, looking to the statements of the complainants and the memos of other co-accused persons prepared under Section 27 of the Evidence Act, which has not only led the Police to arrest the present applicants but also to seize huge movable and immovable properties including cash from each one of them, regarding which, there is no explanation at all, except that it was planted by the police.
In view of the aforesaid discussion, no case for grant of bail is made out.
Accordingly, Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37091/2022, Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.31102/2022, Miscellaneous Signature Not Verified Signed by: RAMESH CHANDRA PITHWE Signing time: 18-08-2022 19:05:35 MCRC No.37091, 31102, 36531 and 37845 of 2022 8 Criminal Case No.36531/2022 and Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.37845/2022 being devoid of merits are hereby dismissed.
Since the police has already kept the investigation open u/s.173(8) of Cr.P.C., the applicants can renew their prayer soon after the supplementary charge sheet is filed or after three months from today, whichever is earlier.
Original signed order be kept in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No.3091/2022 and a copy thereof be kept in other connected cases.
(Subodh Abhyankar) Judge Pithawe RC Signature Not Verified Signed by: RAMESH CHANDRA PITHWE Signing time: 18-08-2022 19:05:35