Madhya Pradesh High Court
Rishi Verma vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 24 March, 2021
Author: Akhil Kumar Srivastava
Bench: Akhil Kumar Srivastava
1 MCRC-13317-2021
The High Court Of Madhya Pradesh
MCRC-13317-2021
(RISHI VERMA Vs THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH)
Jabalpur, Dated : 24-03-2021
Shri Vikas Mahawar, learned counsel for the applicant.
Shri Shailesh Khamparia, learned Panel Lawyer for the
respondent/State.
This is the first bail application filed by the applicant under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. for grant of bail in connection with Crime No.142/2018 registered at P.S. Bhedaghat Jabalpur, District - Jabalpur (M.P.) for the offence punishable under sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B/34 of IPC.
As per the prosecution story, the allegation against the applicant is that on filing the complaint by Narendra Kataria before ASP (crime) Jabalpur it is come on record after investigation that owner of the land namely Balvinder Singh Ahluwalia and Amrita Kaur has executed a mukhtyarnama (Power of Attorney) of one acre land in favour of Narendra Katraria of khasra no. 279/2 280/2 for which registry is made in the name of Narendra and Bhagwan Das. When complainant Narendra filed an application for change of name in the khasra (mutation) he came to know that accused Ajeet Dasani and Bhawna Sangtani are named as owner of the property in said khasras whereas the original owner of the land were Balvinder Singh Ahluwaliya and Amrita Kaur. When statement of Balvinder and Amrita was recorded, they denied sale of the said property to Ajeet and Bhawna. Accused Mahesh Vishwakarma has given the memorandum that he prepared the forged sale agreement with the help of Gurmeet Singh Saini, Hemant Pathak and Rishi Verma and the said agreement has been seized from the house of accused Ajeet Dasani which was executed by the fake Balvinder Singh Ahluwaliya and Amrita Kaur in favour of Mahesh Vishwakarma identified by Hemant Kumar Pathak & Rishi Verma which was given to the Ajeet Dasani at the time of execution of sale deed. In the name of Ajeet Dasani and Bhawna Sangtani sale deed was executed in which names of accused Gurmeet Singh Saini as Balvinder Singh Ahluwaliya and Smt. Mahendar Kaur @ Nindo as Amrita Kaur were shown as owner and name of accused Mahesh, Hemant Pathak Signature SAN Not and Abhishek Soni were shown as identifier of seller and witness regarding Verified Digitally signed by KAFEEL AHMED ANSARI Date: 2021.03.25 11:57:13 IST 2 MCRC-13317-2021 sale of the land. Therefore, for committing fraud and preparation of forged documents the offence u/s 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B/34 of IPC has been registered against the applicant and co-accused.
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is innocent and he is in custody since 15.02.2021. It is further submitted that only on insisting the applicant by purchased of the land namely Ajeet Dasai, he identified him before the registration authority and the applicant has put his signature on registry of the transaction. The applicant only said to be a witness of registry. The present case is completely rest upon the documentary evidence and purely of civil nature for which no custodial interrogation of the applicant was required even then he surrendered before the police with the honest intention. Charge-sheet has been filed and trial will take time to conclude. There is no likelihood of applicant absconding and tampering with the prosecution evidence and his further custody is not required in this case. On the aforesaid grounds, prayer is made to release the applicant on bail.
Learned Panel Lawyer has opposed the submissions made on behalf of the applicant on the ground that looking to the FIR and other documents as well as the material collected during investigation the prima facie case is made out against the applicant. It is well settled law that defence of applicant is a matter of trial, it could not be considered at the time of grant of bail therefore, prayer is made to dismiss the bail application.
Heard the rival contentions of learned counsel for both the parties and perused the entire evidence in the physical case diary.
T h e Thana Incharge, Police Station Bhedaghat, Jabalpur dated 25/02/2021 has given the report that on investigation it is found that accused Mahesh Vishwakarma frequently used to visit Tevar and was well aware of the fact that Balvinder Singh Ahluwaliya whose property is in question in this matter was residing in Kolkata since last 15-20 years therefore, to sale the said property by forged mode he made conspiracy with stamp vendor K.S. Shukla and prepared the forged sale agreement of Rs. 75 lacs for purchasing the land of Balvinder Singh Ahluwaliya. When on 19/11/2020 Mahesh Vishwakar was arrested he has given the memorandum u/s 27 of the Evidence Act that he entered into forgery and prepared sale agreement with co-accused Gurmeet Singh Saini to appear as Balvinder Singh Ahluwaliya and co-accused 3 MCRC-13317-2021 Smt. Mahendar Kaur @ Nindo as Amrita Kaur in his favour in which present applicant and co-accused Hemant Pathak and Abhishek Soni were shown as identifier of seller and witness regarding sale of the land. The said sale agreement has been handed over to Ajeet Dasani at the time of execution of sale deed in favour of Ajeet Dasani and Bhawna Sangtani. The role of the applicant in connivance with main accused Mahesh knowing very well the factum of forgery he participated in the offence with Mahesh Vishwakarma and others and appeared as witness and identifier of seller in the sale agreement.
Therefore, keeping in view the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case and the role attributed to the applicant in offence, this Court is of the considered view that it is not a fit case in which applicant may be released on bail.
Hence, the bail application is hereby dismissed.
(AKHIL KUMAR SRIVASTAVA) JUDGE kafeel