Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati
Cr.P.C vs Unknown on 19 July, 2023
Author: K.Suresh Reddy
Bench: K.Suresh Reddy
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K.SURESH REDDY
CRL.P.NO.4700 OF 2023
ORDER:-
This Criminal Petition, under Sections 437 and 439 of Cr.P.C., has been filed by the petitioner/A-14, seeking regular bail, in Crime No.46 of 2023 of Penugonda Police Station, West Godavari District.
2. Initially, a case has been registered for the offence punishable under Section.379 IPC and subsequently it was altered to Sections 395, 412, 212 and 109 of the Indian Penal Code,1860..
3. Heard Sri V.R.Machavaram, learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor for the State.
4. The case of the prosecution succinctly is thus:-
That the defacto complainant-Sripal Jain (Lw.1) is a resident of Nellore City; that Lw.1 and his clerk Babu Ram(lw.5) are doing gold business in Rajamahendravaram, Narsapuram and Palkol areas; that on 26-03-2023 at about 8.10 P.M they kept gold ornaments weighing about 850 grams 2 KSR,J CRL.P.4700_2023 in their black colour bag and boarded into Circar Express in Nellore in order to go to Rajamahendravaram and they reached Rajamahendravaram on the next day morning and went to their rented house; that on 27-03-2023 Lw.5 went to Narsapuram along with bag and at about 1.30 P.M he collected old dues from the persons who are due to him; that Lw.5 started at Narasapuram at about 2.00 P.M in order to go to Palkol in an Auto, in which Accused Nos.1 and 7 were also boarded; that after completion of work in Palkol, Lw.5 proceeded for Rajamahendravaramu in a RTC Bus; that ironically Accused Nos.1 and 7 were also travelled along with Lw.5 in the said RTC Bus; that Accused Nos.3 to 6 and 9 to 11 were also followed the said RTC Bus in a Bolero and Sumo vehicles; that when the RTC Bus stopped at Penugonda Village towards Sidhantam road in order to punch the tickets by the Conductor as the said RTC Bus was filled with passengers, Lw.5 got down the bus in order to attend the calls of nature; that when Lw.5 is attending the calls of nature, Accused Nos.1, 3 to 6, 7 , 9 to 11 pounced upon Lw.5 and folded his two hands towards back side and took away the bag, which contains gold ornaments and cash, and decamped 3 KSR,J CRL.P.4700_2023 with booty in a Bolero and Sumo vehicles; that Lw.5 reported the said incident to Lw.1, who in turn, gave a report to the police; that on the report of Lw.1, the present crime has been registered; that during the course of investigation, Police arrested Accused Nos.1, 7 and 8, who were remanded to judicial custody. On the confession made by Accused Nos.1,7 and 8, Accused Nos.13 and 14 were also arrested; that in the confession, the allegation made against the petitioner is that the petitioner/Accused No.14 and Accused No.13 used to perpetrate the Accused Nos.1 to 12 to commit thefts; that as per the instructions of petitioner and Accused No.13, other accused used to commit thefts and shared the decamped booty with each other; that the petitioner used to take care of them by way of filing bail applications; that on the basis of the confession, the petitioner was arrested on 19-04-2023, who was remanded to the judicial custody thereafter.
5. Sri V.R.Machavaram, learned counsel for the petitioner, strenuously contends that the petitioner is a practicing Advocate and he has nothing to do with the dacoity allegedly committed by Accused Nos.1 to 12. Further, the petitioner is 4 KSR,J CRL.P.4700_2023 in judicial custody since 19-04-2023. He, therefore, requests this court to enlarge him on bail.
6. Per contra, the learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor vehemently opposed the bail application stating that the petitioner and Accused No.13 used to instigate the Accused Nos.1 to 12 to commit thefts, who in turn, gave the part of stolen items to the petitioner and the petitioner used to file bail applications on their behalf. Further more, the police have also recovered some gold ornaments from the possession of the petitioner apart from cash. As such, he sought to dismiss the bail application.
7. This Court perused the entire material available on record. Admittedly, the petitioner is a practicing Advocate and he enrolled as an Advocate on the rolls of Bar Council of Maharastra. Further, the main accused i.e., Accused Nos.1, 7 and 8 were already enlarged on bail. Since the petitioner is in judicial custody since 19-04-2023, this court is inclined to grant bail to the petitioner/Accused No.14, on the following conditions.
(i) The petitioner herein shall be released on bail on his executing a personal bond for Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty 5 KSR,J CRL.P.4700_2023 thousand only) with two sureties for a like sum each to the satisfaction of the learned Principal Junior Civil Judge-cum-
JFCM, Tanuku;
(ii) On release, the petitioner shall appear before the Station House Officer concerned once in a week i.e., on every Sunday between 10.00 a.m. and 01.00 p.m., until further orders.
(iii) Further, the petitioner is directed not to hamper the investigation and tamper with the prosecution witnesses.
8. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed.
________________ K.SURESH REDDY,J 19-07-2023.
TSNR