ORDER :

(Lalitha Kanneganti, J.)

1. This petition is filed under Section 438 of Code of the Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'Cr.P.C.') seeking pre arrest bail to the petitioner/Accused in the event of her arrest in connection with Crime No. 214 of 2021 of Banaganapalli Police Station, Kurnool District for the offence punishable under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short 'IPC').

2. The case of the prosecution is that prior to 8-8-2021, the accused Smt. Parvathi, the then Special Officer, Banaganapali Gram Panchayat, now working as Divisional Panchayat Officer, Dharmavaram, misappropriated the funds of Banaganapalli Grama Panchayat i.e., cash of Rs.62,92,843/- without bills and records and cash of Rs.2,29,34,808/- against the norms and Rules of Government and without prior permission from Government. After enquiry, the complainant Agraharam Srinivasulu, Divisional Panchayat Officer, Nandyal, gave report against the accused.

3. Heard Sri K. Jyothi Prasad, learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Assistant Public Prosecutor for the respondent-State.

4. Learned counsel for petitioner submits that the petitioner is aged about 58 years and she is falsely implicated in this case basing on political reasons. He submits that de facto complainant was appointed as enquiry officer and he conducted enquiry and submitted a report to the District Panchayat Officer, Kurnool. He submits that the accused received charge memo, dated 28-10-2020 through mail in the month of December, 2020 and after gap of 9 months, as per the instructions of the District Collector, the present complaint was filed. He drawn the attention of this Court to the proceeding issued by Collector in ROC No. 1222/Pts/A1/2019, dated 8-7-2021, based on the representation of the sitting MLA of Banaganapalli. When the departmental proceedings were initiated, petitioner has already submitted her explanation and departmental proceedings are pending as of now. It is submitted that against the proceedings of the Collector, dated 8-7-2021, petitioner also filed W.P. No. 15232 of 2021 and the same is pending for consideration. After filing the Writ Petition, the present complaint was registered. He submits that except the statement of the de facto complainant, there is no material available against the petitioner. It is further submitted that the petitioner is ready to cooperate with the investigation. Hence, he case may be considered for grant of bail.

5. On the other hand, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor filed counter along with other material papers before this Court and submits that the petitioner is involved in misappropriation of amount of Rs.3,00,00,000/- and odd and basing on the proceedings of the District Collector, the report was lodged and the complaint was registered. In the counter, it is stated how the petitioner has misappropriated the amounts and it is stated that without any prior permission from the Government or resolution of Gram Panchayat, the petitioner allotted some sites to private persons and caused loss to the Gram Panchayat. Investigation so far discloses that the accused has misappropriated the funds of the Government to a tune of Rs.2,92,27,651/-. He further submits that the investigation is pending for examination of some more witnesses and to collect the material documents from the complainant. If the petitioner is granted pre arrest bail, she may abscond, tamper with the evidence and hamper the investigation process.

6. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the material on record. The allegation against the petitioner is that while she was working as a Special Officer, she has misappropriated amounts to a tune of Rs.2,29,34,808/-. It is the case of the petitioner that as of now the petitioner is not working at that place, as such there cannot be any apprehension for the police the she may tamper the evidence or she may influence the witnesses.

7. Learned Assistant Public Prosecutor also does not dispute th