Gauhati High Court
Pompee Dutta vs The State Of Assam on 24 November, 2022
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
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GAHC010233472022
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : AB/3401/2022
POMPEE DUTTA
S/O HEMANTA DUTTA
R/O NORTH GUWAHATI, RANGAMAHA
DIST. KAMRUP, ASSAM
PIN-781030
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM
S/O HEMANTA DUTTA
R/O NORTH GUWAHATI, RANGMAHAL
DIST. KAMRUP, ASSAM
PIN-781030
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR T H HAZARIKA
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
24.11.2022 Heard Mr. T.H. Hazarika, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. M.P. Goswami, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent State of Assam.
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2. By this application under Section 438, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC], the petitioner viz. Pompee Dutta has approached this Court seeking the benefit of pre-arrest bail, apprehending her arrest, in connection with Changsari Police Station Case no. 370/2022 registered under Sections 120B/209/420/468/472, Indian Penal Code [IPC].
3. The First Information Report [FIR] is lodged on behalf of M/s Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited ['the Bank', for short] before the Officer In-Charge, Changsari Police Station on 21.09.2022. The Bank had processed and approved an application submitted by three persons viz. Ajoy Dewan, Rupjan Begum, and Babul Dewan for one loan, called MSE-Secured Loan. It is alleged that at the time of submission of application for MSE-Secured Loan [Loan A/C no. 3562210180000004], the said three proposed borrowers submitted 3 [three] nos. of Form-50 certificates bearing nos. 1699/19, 1882/19 & 1883/19. Accordingly on the basis of the document submitted by the proposed borrowers and after their verification by the concerned officials in the Bank, the loan was sanctioned. When the loan turned NPA, the entire matter was verified. On verification carried out in the Court of learned District and Sessions Judge, Amingaom, Kamrup, the Bank came to learn that all the Form-50 certificates submitted by the three borrowers were fake and forged. Alleging deception by the borrowers by submission of fraudulent documents, the FIR has been lodged.
4. It has been projected on behalf of the petitioner that she is serving as a Credit Officer in the Bank and her duties and responsibilities include checking of documents with the login checklist with the CIBIL and Highmark and if the CIBIL and Highmark are found to be positive then the house/business place of the intended borrower has to be visited for personal discussion. If after inspection of the house/business place and discussion, necessary conditions are found to have been satisfied then the application has to be sent for further processing.
5. It transpires that during the course of investigation, two of the borrowers viz. [i] Sayed Babul Dewan @ Md. Babul Dewan, and [ii] Md. Ajoy Dewan @ Ajoy Dewan were arrested. On perusal of the case diary, it appears that 3 [three] fake Form-50 were issued by the office of Page No.# 3/4 Munsiff, Rangia on 21.09.2019 in the name of the three borrowers viz. Ajoy Dewan and Babul Dewan and their mother namely Rupjan Begum. The said three fake Form-50 were deposited with the Bank by the three borrowers for obtaining MSE-Secured Loan so as to satisfy the Bank with the fact the plot of land mentioned in the said 3 [three] fake Form-50 certificates were free from litigation. In their statements, Ajoy Dewan and Babul Dewan have mentioned of one Jadumoni Deka, who is the Relationship Manger of the Bank to be involved with them in procuring the fake Form-50 certificates. The Relationship Manager of the Bank, Jadumoni Deka was also arrested in the course of investigation, Jadumoni Deka in his statement, has implicated one Sri Pranjit Battacharya, Bank Manager of the Bank to be in collusion with him in the process of submission of fake Form-50 certificates and sanctioning of loan on the basis of such fake Form-50 certificates. None of the arrested accused persons have implicated the petitioner herein to be involved with them in the process of procuring the fake Form-50 certificates which were submitted in sanctioning the loan in fvour of the borrowers : Ajoy Dewan, Babul Dewan and Rupjan Begum.
6. Considering the materials available in the case diary, collected during the course of investigation carried out so far, and having regard to the fact that the none of the arrested accused persons implicated the petitioner in the transaction involving the loan sanctioned in favour of the three borrowers, Ajoy Dewan, Babul Dewan and Rupjan Begum on the basis of a forged Form-50 certificates, this Court is of considered view that the petitioner deserves to be extended the benefit of pre-arrest bail under Section 438, CrPC.
7. Accordingly, it is provided that in the event of arrest of the petitioner viz. Pompee Dutta in connection with Changsari Police Station Case no. 370/2022, he shall be released on bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 15,000/- with one local surety of the like amount, to the satisfaction of the arresting authority subject to the conditions that :
[i] the petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer [I.O.] of the case within 7 [seven] days from today and shall cooperate with the investigation and shall thereafter, make himself available as and when his presence is required by the I.O. in the investigation of the case;
Page No.# 4/4 [ii] the petitioner shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any witness acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer; and [iii] the petitioner shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not to play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police.
8. The bail application stands disposed in the aforesaid terms.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant