Supreme Court - Daily Orders
State Of West Bengal vs Asif Khan on 30 January, 2015
Bench: Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya, Abhay Manohar Sapre
ITEM NO.45 COURT NO.4 SECTION IIB
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 7801/2014
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 03/09/2014
in CRM No. 8906/2014 passed by the High Court of Calcutta)
STATE OF WEST BENGAL Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
ASIF KHAN AND ANR Respondent(s)
(with appln. (s) for impleadment as party respondent and
permission to file additional documents and interim relief and
office report)
Date : 30/01/2015 This petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Kalyan Kr. Bandopadhyay, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Kabir S. Bose, Adv.
Mr. Anip Sachthey,Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Sanjiv Sen, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Dev Roy, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Gupta,Adv.
Mr. V. Shekhar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Piyush K. Roy, Adv.
Mr. Musarrof Hossain, Adv.
Mrs. Kakali Roy, Adv.
Mr. Rajan K. Chourasia,Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
Leave granted.
The appeal stands disposed of in terms of the Signed Order.
Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Rajni Mukhi Date: 2015.02.03 16:24:24 IST Reason:(Rajni Mukhi) (Suman Jain) Sr. P.A. Court Master (Signed Order is placed on the file) IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPEAL No.706 OF 2015 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) NO.7801 of 2014) STATE OF WEST BENGAL …..APPELLANT VERSUS ASIF KHAN AND ANR. ...RESPONDENTS O R D E R Leave granted.
This appeal has been preferred by the appellant-State of West Bengal against the order dated 3rd September, 2014 passed by the High Court of Calcutta in C.R.M. No. 8906 of 2014. By the impugned order, the High Court granted Anticipatory Bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,1973 (hereinafter referred to as `Cr.P.C') to accused-respondents in connection with New Town Police Station Case No.237 dated 24.07.2014, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate under sections 420/406/120B/506 of the IPC . The impugned order reads as follows:
“Heard learned advocate of both the parties. Having considered the materials in the case diary, we are of the view that custodial interrogation of the petitioners in this case is not necessary. There is also no apprehension of abscondence of the petitioners. We are, therefore, inclined to allow the prayer of the petitioners for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Accordingly, we direct that in the event of arrest, the petitioners be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.3,000/- (Rupees Three Thousand only) each with one surety of like amount each to the satisfaction of the arresting officer and subject to conditions as laid down in sub-section (2) of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The application for anticipatory bail is, thus, allowed.”
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The learned senior counsel Mr. Bandopadhyay appearing on behalf of the appellant submits that the Court has granted Anticipatory Bail in a matter where various allegations have been levelled without discussing the plea taken by the parties. Per contra, according to learned counsel for the accused respondents no criminal ingredient can be made out from the bare reading of the complaint placed before the Court which reads as follows:
“I, Wahudul Hasan siddiqui, S/o late Mr. Sheikh Nawabu, r/o 13, Gomti Enclave, Tilak Marg, P.S. Hazratganj, Lucknow, U.P. beg to inform you Asif Khan and his family member cheated and threatening us making criminal conspiracy against us. In the year of Dec. 2012, I have been introduced by Mr. Syed Mohd. Shahid Anwar with Asif Khan. He told us that Asif Khan was doing land and media business in Kolkata and Lucknow too h e told us that Asif Khan has good connection in Kolkata with official and political. Also Asif Khan was appointed in U.P. as observer for Political Party and Mr. Asif Khan residence in Park Circus, Telbeghan road, Kolkata. While our several meeting with Asif Khan he showed us a map of land 480 acre situated at New Town area opposite to Echo Park. And entire area was acquired by Government but this 480 acre land is not acquired. So if we are interested then we can buy the land from farmer. Myself and Mr. Anand Agarwal with their partner had come to see the land. Land was clear and there is no any construction and project. Around the land all development was completed. Asif Khan told us that total cost of land from the farmer is costing around Twenty Crores (Rs. 20 Crores). He also told us that the farmer will be required only cash payment. So we have to manage the cash amount. We paid him 20 Crores cash in installment since March 13 to Oct. 2013. We also asked him to give us voucher but he assured us that he would receive the voucher from farmer. But after paying all amount he did not give any receipt on document or deed. When we enquired about land and contact to farmer they told us that they did n ot receive any amount. Also we came to know that Asif Khan and his family took two companies in their name and they have the account in HDFC Bank UN Brahmachary Branch, Kolkata, the name of two companies are (1) Kalpataru Commosales (Pvt.) Ltd. And (2) Trilok Marketing (Pvt.) Ltd. We know also his account numbers. When we came to know about his reality
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we asked him about money back he assured us that h e would give back our money up to 20 Nov. We have also recorded his voice and assurance of money back. But later on he and his associate abused us at the land New Town area and threatening to kill us we went again his house at Park circus in the month of Dec. 13. Same though he repeated his abusing language with also his family involved. Also they threatned us to kill us and warned us don't come back to Kolkata again. We tried our best to get back our money but failed. Kindly enquire this matter and help us to getting our money back and take action against him for this criminal conspiracy.” It is also submitted that even name of one of accused respondent Sk. Tausif Athir had not been mentioned in the complaint.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant submits that the accused are habitual offenders and there are 7-8 complaints pending against accused respondents. However, this is disputed by the learned counsel for the accused respondents.
We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. From the plain reading of the complaint and the charges for which complaint has been lodged, we are of the view that it was not a fit case for enlarging the respondents Asif Khan and Sk. Tausif Athir on anticipatory bail. We accordingly, set aside the impugned order dated 3rd September, 2014 passed by the High Court at Calcutta in C.R.M. No. 8906 of 2014.
However, it will be open to the accused respondents to ask for regular bail. In such case, the Court may consider the same uninfluenced by the orders passed by the High Court and this Court.
The appeal stands disposed of.
............................J. [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA] ...........................J. [ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE] NEW DELHI;
JANUARY 30, 2015