Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Mousumi Roy vs Unknown on 11 April, 2019
Author: Sanjib Banerjee
Bench: Sanjib Banerjee
1 Serial No.17.
April 11, 2019.
SG Allowed CRM 2561 of 2019 In Re. An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In the matter of: Mousumi Roy ... petitioner.
Mr Milon Mukherjee Mr Manas Dasgupta Mr Biswajit Manna ... for the petitioner.
Mr Debajyoti Deb ... for the State.
The petitioner seeks bail in connection with Khejuri Police Station Case No.47 of 2017 dated February 19, 2017 under Sections 406/420/120B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of the West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act.
The petitioner is the wife of the principal accused in the ponzi scheme.
The petitioner relies on a report filed by the Directorate of Economic Offences, West Bengal before the Division Bench of this court looking into the civil aspects pertaining to ponzi schemes in WP 24110 (W) of 2016.
Such report of February 7, 2019 indicates that the total dues of the depositors in respect of different schemes of the Pincon group 2 of companies is about Rs.59.04 crore. The report also reveals that goods of total value of about Rs.15 crore have been seized but that such amount may not be sufficient to discharge the dues of all the depositors.
The petitioner says that the petitoner was a director in one of the fringe companies for a limited time and it is nobody's case that the petitioner went about collecting deposits from any person during the short tenure that the petitioner was shown as a director of the relevant company.
Considering the relationship between the petitioner and the principal person who masterminded the ponzi schemes, it is necessary that a substantial deposit be obtained from the petitioner as condition precedent to enlarge the petitioner on bail.
Accordingly, in addition to the usual conditions, the petitioner is required to deposit a sum of Rs.3 crore with the Registrar General of this court within a fortnight from date as condition precedent for the petitioner obtaining interim bail. The money will be held by the Registrar General in connection with WP 24110 (W) of 2016 and the deposit will be subject to the orders of the Division Bench in seisin of the relevant writ petition.
Upon deposit of such amount of Rs.3 crore, the petitioner will be enlarged on interim bail subject to the condition that a further sum of Rs.3 crore would be deposited by the petitioner by July 31, 2019. In default of such further sum being deposited, the interim bail granted to the petitioner will stand rejected. Upon the deposit being made, however, the petitioner will enjoy regular bail subject to the conditions imposed herein.
3The petitioner shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only), with four sureties, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Tamluk subject to the further conditions that the petitioner shall not intimidate the witnesses or tamper with the evidence in any manner whatsoever and she shall appear before the trial court on every date of hearing.
In addition, the petitioner should not leave the country till the conclusion of the trial without the express previous leave of the trial court.
In the event of violation of any of the conditions, the trial court will be at liberty to cancel the bail without reference to this court.
The prayer for bail is allowed, subject to the conditions stated above.
Certified website copies of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities.
( Sanjib Banerjee, J. ) ( Suvra Ghosh, J. ) 4