Failure to serve grounds of arrest immediately renders the arrest illegal, entitling the accused to bail, emphasizing the importance of personal liberty and compliance with constitutional rights.

ORDER :

S Vishwajith Shetty, J.

1. Accused nos.1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12 & 14 in Crime No.250/2024 registered by Kamakshipalya Police Station, Bengaluru City, for the offences punishable under Sections 120B, 364, 384, 355, 302, 201, 143, 147, 148, 149, 34 IPC, are before this Court in the above captioned criminal petitions filed under Section 439 Cr.PC. seeking regular bail.

2. Heard the learned Counsel for the parties.

3. FIR in Crime No.250/2024 was registered by Kamakshipalya Police Station, Bengaluru City, against unknown persons initially for the offences punishable under Sections 302 & 201 IPC on the basis of the first information dated 09.06.2024 received from Keval Ran Dorji - Security Officer of Sattva Anugraha Apartments, Summanahalli, Bengaluru, after the dead body of a unknown male aged about 30 to 35 years which had injuries on it was found on the road side besides a drainage in front of Sattva Anugraha Apartment complex. During the course of investigation of the case, accused nos.1, 2, 11, 12 & 14 were arrested on 11.06.2024 and accused nos.6 & 7 were arrested on 14.06.2024. Subsequently, the aforesaid arrested accused were produced before the Court and remanded to judicial custody. Investigation in the case is completed and charge sheet has been filed against 17 accused persons. Petitioners herein are arrayed as accused nos.1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12 & 14 in the charge sheet. Bail applications filed by the petitioners before the Court of LVI Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru, in Crl. Misc. Nos.8580/2024, 8770/2024, 9126/2024, 8812/2024, 8799/2024, 8798/2024, 9120/2024 were rejected, and therefore, they are before this Court.

4. Sri C.V.Nagesh, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of accused no.2 has raised the following contentions:

Though the dead body of a unknown male was found on the morning of 09.06.2024 itself, no inquest proceedings was held nor was the postmortem of the dead body conducted till 11.06.2024.

The allegation that accused nos.4, 6, 7 & 8 had kidnapped Renukaswamy on 08.06.2024 with an intention to commit his murder cannot be believed having regard to the statements of CW-7 - Kashinathaiah - father of deceased during the inquest proceedings, CW-8 - Smt. Rathnaprabha - mother of the deceased dated 14.06.2024 and CW- 122 - Manjunath - Cashier of Bar & Restaurant dated 20.08.2024, wherein the deceased on his way from Chitradurga to Bengaluru along with accused nos.4, 6, 7 & 8 had purchased liquor and had paid for the same.

Panchanama dated 12.06.2024 relating to seizure of weapons used to commit the crime becomes doubtful having regard to the statement of CW-69 - Narendra Singh, the confession statement of accused nos.4, 15 & 17 who were arrested on 10.06.2024, statement of CW-132 - Vinay - Police Sub-Inspector of Kamakshipalya Police Station, since the aforesaid statements indicate that possession of scene of offence was taken over by the police much prior to the panchanama dated 12.06.2024.

The weapons used for committing the offence are viz., nylon rope measuring 4 feet long, two twigs of a tree and a wooden laati and no blood stains were found on the twigs.

Referring to the voluntary statement of accused no.2 and the recovery panchanama dated 14.06.2024 under which his shoes and dress which were worn by him on the date of crime, he submits that item mentioned in the voluntary statement and the item mentioned in the recovery mahazar differs.

Prosecution has relied on the evidence of CW-80, CW-98 & CW-99 for establishing conspiracy, but their statement do not in any way indicate that there was conspiracy by the accused prior to the crime.

CW-69, CW-77, CW-78 & CW-79 are not eyewitnesses to the crime and they have not spoken about the role of accused no.2 in the crime.

There is an inordinate delay in recording the statements of the alleged eye-witnesses CW-76 - Kiran and CW-91 - Puneeth, which is not explained. The material on record would go to show that they were very much available in Bengaluru and thei