Karnataka High Court
Sri. Kumaraswamy ( @Kumar @ Kiran) vs The State Of Karnataka on 19 September, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
DATED THIS THE 19 T H DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2022
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SREENIVAS HARISH KUMAR
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.1571 OF 2022
BETWEEN:
Sri Kumaraswamy
(@Kumar @ Kiran)
S/o Shivaramaih
Aged about 38 years
R/at Kaggere Village
Irakasand ra Post
Chelur Hob li, Gubbi Taluk
Tumkur District-572 117.
...Appellant
(By Sri Christop her Noel A, Ad vocate)
AND:
The State of Karnataka
By Malleshwaram Police Station
Now CID Police Bang alore
Pin-560001.
...Respondent
(By Sri Vishal B.M. Advocate for
Sri Ashok Naik, Spl.P.P.)
This Criminal Appeal is filed und er Section 12 of
Karnataka Control of Org anized Crime Act, 2000
praying to set asid e the ord er dated 10.08.2022
passed in Sp l.C.C. No.417/2016 on the file of the
learned Prl. City Sessions and Sp l. Court, Bang alore in
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rejecting the b ail app lication filed under Section 439
of the Cod e of Criminal Procedure 1973 and etc,.
This Criminal Appeal coming on for admission
this d ay, the Court d elivered the following:
JUDGMENT
Heard Sri. Christopher Noel A., learned counsel for the appellant and Sri. Vishal B.M., for Ashok Nayak, Special Public Prosecutor for the respondent.
2. This is an appeal under section 12 of the Karnataka Control of Organized Crime, 2000. The appellant is accused no.1 in Spl.C.C.No.417/2016 on the file of Prl. City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru. He and other accused are facing trial in relation to offences punishable under sections 411, 454, 457, 380, 381, 461, 166, 120B, 201 r/w 109 IPC, under sections 115 and 23(iii) of Karnataka Education Act and section 13(1)(D) r/w 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act and sections :: 3 ::
3(i)(ii), 3(2), 3(4) and 3(5) of Karnataka Control of Organized Crimes Act,2000, ('KCOCA' for short).
2. The case pertains to leaking of question paper of second year Pre-University examination held for the academic year 2015-16. The allegation against the appellant is that he entered to the Treasury/strong room of Hanagal Taluk, opened the seal of the question paper bundle and took the photographs of the question papers and circulated the same. Learned counsel refers to the evidence of PW.62 to argue that his evidence discloses that the seal put on the bundle was intact and thereby the involvement of the appellant in the commission of the offence can be doubted. But his argument cannot be given credence at this stage because if the evidence given by PW.62 is considered, it amounts to appreciating the evidence. It does not lie within the jurisdiction of this court while deciding the :: 4 ::
appeal preferred against rejection of application for bail.
3. Sri. Vishal B.M. opposes the appeal by arguing that the appellant is the main accused and on earlier occasions his six applications for bail stood dismissed. Now also there are no grounds for granting bail.
4. Though the prosecution has invoked the KCOCA Act, it remains a fact that the appellant has been in custody for the last 6 ½ years. The maximum sentence that can be imposed in relation to offence under sections 380 and 381 IPC is seven years and for the offence under the KCOCA, the imprisonment period should not be less than five years. Since the appellant has spent 6 ½ years in jail and as it appears that the trial may not be completed within a few months, it is desirable to grant bail to the appellant. Hence the following:
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ORDER Appeal is allowed.
The order passed by the Prl.City
Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru
dated 10.08.2022 in Spl.
C.C.No.417/2016 is set aside.
The appellant is admitted to bail on obtaining from him a bond for Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakhs only) and two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the trial court. The appellant is also subjected to following conditions:-
i. He shall not tamper with the
evidence collected by the
investigating officer and threaten
the witnesses.
ii. He shall regularly appear before the trial court till conclusion of the trial.
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iii. Till conclusion of the trial, the appellant shall mark his attendance before the jurisdictional police once in 15 days, preferably on Sunday between 9 am and 12 noon.
iv. He shall not get involved in any other criminal case/s in future. In case of any FIR is registered against him or if he violates any of the bail conditions, the same will be considered for cancellation of bail.
Sd/-
JUDGE sd