Allahabad High Court
Jai Prakash Sharma vs State Of U.P. on 19 January, 2023
Author: Subhash Chandra Sharma
Bench: Subhash Chandra Sharma
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 80 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 12046 of 2022 Applicant :- Jai Prakash Sharma Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Dinesh Kumar Singh,Pawan Kumar Rao Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Subhash Chandra Sharma,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant as well as learned AGA for the State and perused the material placed on record.
This anticipatory bail application (under section 438 Cr.P.C.) has been moved seeking bail in Case Crime No.142 of 2022, under sections 420, 406, 467, 468 I.P.C., Police Station Kaila Devi, District Sambhal, during the pendency of trial.
Facts in brief are that the informant and co-accused Rajendra are residents of the same village and same parentage. Rajendra, who is co-accused, applied for loan in the bank by submitting his khatauni for the purpose of hypothication. The loan was sanctioned by Senior Branch Manager S.K. Singh and after sanction it was examined by this applicant as being Branch Admn. Ultimately loan amounting to Rs.8,70,000/- was sanctioned in favour of co-accused Rajendra.
It is submitted by learned counsel for the applicant that in this case the co-accused Rajendra applied for loan by filing khatuani belonging to the informant. Since the name of both the persons with same parantage were residents of the same village, therefore, this applicant could not know the fact that the khtauni filed by the co-accused Rajendra belonged to the informant. The loan was sanctioned by Senior Branch Manager, Sanjeev Kumar Singh who died during Covid-19 pandemic and this applicant only examined the loan after it being sanctioned. It is also submitted that co-accused Rajendra has accepted later on that by mistake he filed other khatuani on the place of his own and he is ready to return the loan amount. The matter is under investigation, therefore, the applicant is under apprehension of imminent arrest. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he would not misuse the liberty of bail and would cooperate with the investigation.
Learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the applicant as well as learned A.G.A. and from the perusal of record, it appears that this applicant was working as Branch Manager Administration at the time of alleged sanction of loan and khatauni of informant was filed by co-accused Rajendra who had applied for loan in the bank that did not come into the knowledge of this applicant as the same belonged to the person with same parentage i.e. Gajram residents of the same village. Therefore, the applicant is entitled to be released on anticipatory bail in this case for the limited period considering the exception considered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sushila Aggarwal Vs. State (NCT of Delhi)-2020 SCC Online SC 98.
In the event of arrest of the applicant- Jai Prakash Sharma, shall be released on anticipatory bail till the submission of police report, if any, under section 173 (2) Cr.P.C., on furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 25,000/- with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Station House Officer of the police station concerned with the following conditions:-
(i) The applicant shall make himself available for interrogation by a police office as and when required;
(ii) The applicant shall not directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police office;
(iii) The applicant shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court and if he has passport, the same shall be deposited by him before the S.S.P./S.P. concerned.
In default of any of the conditions, the Investigating Officer is at liberty to file appropriate application for cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to the applicant.
Order Date :- 19.1.2023 Ashok Gupta