Delhi High Court - Orders
Amit @ Lara vs The State on 27 May, 2021
Author: Rajnish Bhatnagar
Bench: Rajnish Bhatnagar
(VIA VIDEO-CONFERENCING)
$~18
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ BAIL APPLN. 683/2021
AMIT @ LARA ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Lakshay Joshi, Advocate.
versus
THE STATE ... Respondent
Through: Ms. Manjeet Arya, APP for the State
with SI Pooranmal, P.S.Hari Nagar.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJNISH BHATNAGAR
ORDER
% 27.05.2021
1. This is a petition filed by the petitioner under Section 439 read with Section 482 Cr.P.C seeking bail in case FIR No. 483/2020 under Sections 387/440/506/120B/201/34 IPC and Sections 25/27/54/59 of the Arms Act registered at P.S.Hari Nagar.
2. Brief facts of the case are that on 31.07.2020 two persons have fired in one shop and ran away. On receiving the complaint, DD No. 55A was recorded and said DD was handed over to ASI Sohanveer who along with PSI Kavish went to the spot and met the complainant who has handed over one letter written in Hindi to them in which Rs. 1 crore was demanded. On the basis of the said complaint made by Azim Khan, the present FIR was registered.
3. According to the prosecution, during the course of investigation and examination of CCTV Footage, one motorcycle bearing registration no.
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:KAMAL KANT MENDIRATTA Signing Date:11.06.2021 20:27(VIA VIDEO-CONFERENCING) DL10SR-1915 was found from the scene of crime. It was found that the motorcycle was registered in the name of one Bhola Ram, which was mortgaged to Ashish Madan. According to the prosecution, investigation revealed that Ashish Mohan had given the said motorcycle to Annu Malik and Annu Malik, on interrogation told that he had given the said motorcycle to Parmod @ Parvesh. During investigation, it was further revealed that the letter which was shown at the shop of the complainant demanding an amount of Rs.1 crore was on behalf of one Kaushal Gang, whose leader was launched in Hisar Jail. According to the prosecution, two co-accused of the applicant Annu Malik and Parmod has been arrested and on interrogation Parmod revealed that his brother Naveen was launched in Bhondsi Jail and was in contact with Kaushal Gang. According to the prosecution, it is further revealed that fire was done by Sachin and Kapil. As per the prosecution, on interrogation, Ashu @ Hukka and Naveen who were in Bhondsi Jail disclosed that Naveen managed a mobile in jail and Amit @ Lara had given him a whatsapp code of 9518876384.
4. During investigation, it was further revealed that Ashu @ Hukka was in touch with his brother with the present applicant/accused with similar number. The applicant/accused was interrogated on 5.8.2020 and during investigation, it was revealed that applicant had arranged a sim card of which mobile no. 9518876384 was operated, which was registered in the name of his cousin Kapil @ Ravi. The applicant/accused was arrested on the same day.
5. It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is in judicial custody since 5.8.2020, and he is not required for any investigation purposes as charge sheet has already been filed. It is further submitted by Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:KAMAL KANT MENDIRATTA Signing Date:11.06.2021 20:27 (VIA VIDEO-CONFERENCING) the counsel for the petitioner that simply because the petitioner is the brother of Ashu @ Hukka, he has been falsely implicated in this case. It is further submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that prosecution has not filed any supporting documents revealing the source of internet through which the accused Ashu @ Hukka and Naveen were operating mobile no. 9518876384. It is further submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that there is no question of applicant tampering the evidence or settling the witnesses. It is further submitted that the applicant has clean past antecedents and the trial would take time to conclude. It is further submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that the allegations put-forth against applicant/accused in the FIR are highly improbable and cannot be proved during the course of trial. It is further submitted by the counsel for the applicant/accused that the case is based on circumstantial evidence and story of the prosecution and documents filed along with the charge sheet do not complete the chain of circumstantial evidence to prosecute the applicant/accused.
6. On the other hand, it is submitted by learned APP that the allegations against the applicant/accused are grave and serious in nature. It is further submitted that the applicant/accused has provided sim card through which whatsapp calls for extortion were made. It is further submitted by learned APP that Jio Hotspot Device and Jio Sim Card were recovered from the possession of the applicant/accused through which calls were made through whatsapp call. It is further submitted that investigation had revealed that accused Ashu @ Hukka was using the said whatsapp number and only on that basis the said number was recovered from the applicant/accused on 5.8.2020.
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:KAMAL KANT MENDIRATTA Signing Date:11.06.2021 20:27(VIA VIDEO-CONFERENCING)
7. In the instant case, it cannot be said that the allegations against the petitioner are not grave and serious in nature because calls for extortion of a sum of Rs.1 crore were made from the complainant on the basis of the sim card and whatsapp provided by the present applicant/accused.
8. During the investigation, the Jio Hotspot Device and Sim Card were recovered from the present applicant/accused which facilitated the making of the whatsapp calls through which demands of extortion were made. As far as the contention of counsel for the petitioner that chain of circumstantial evidence is not complete, the same cannot be appreciated at this stage, because this is not the stage, where detailed analysis of the evidence produced by the prosecution in the court in the form of charge sheet is to be considered and deeply analyzed to arrive at a conclusion either in favour of the accused or the state as such an exercise might prejudice the case of either of the parties. Hospot Device and Sim Card were recovered from the applicant/accused on the basis of the information provided by the co- accused Ashu-Hukka. In these circumstances, at this stage no ground for bail is made out, therefore the application seeking regular bail is dismissed.
RAJNISH BHATNAGAR, J MAY 27, 2021/ib Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:KAMAL KANT MENDIRATTA Signing Date:11.06.2021 20:27