IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Present pandemic situation requires that an accused involved in offences attracting imprisonment only up to seven years need not be arrested and confined to custody unless it is essential and imperative to do so.
(2) Applicant need not be incarcerated merely to give him a taste of imprisonment.

ORDER (COMMON)

Ashok Menon, J.—Applications for anticipatory bail under section 438 Cr.PC.

2. The applicant had preferred these two applications seeking anticipatory bail apprehending imminent arrest in two Crimes, Nos. 464/2020 and 484/2020 of the Valanchery Police Station, against him and two others, alleging commission of offences punishable under Sections 465, 468, 471 & 420 of the IPC. The crimes were originally registered against the applicant alone and later, the staff of the applicant including his son, working in his laboratory named Arma Lab and Health, Valanchery have been arrayed as co-accused.

3. The prosecution case in Crime 464/20, in brief, is that Micro Health Laboratories, Kozhikode (‘Micro Lab’ for short), is a laboratory authorised by the Government and recognized by the ICMR, to conduct tests for detecting COVID-19. Applicant is the proprietor of Arma Lab and Health, Valanchery (‘Arma Lab’ for short). The applicant’s Arma Lab was made a sample collecting agent at Valancheri for the Micro Lab. Samples collected by the applicant were forwarded for testing to Micro Lab and reports were issued by them. The Public Relations Director of Micro Lab filed a complaint before the police on 16-09-2020, stating that the applicant and the co-accused had between the period 15/07/20 and 15/09/20 dishonestly induced the members of the public who required a test report to travel abroad, to deliver samples for testing, and also collected money from them. Those samples were never sent to Micro Lab for testing and the accused issued fake certificates under the name of Micro Lab, without actually conducting any tests, and thereby forged Lab reports for the purpose of cheating the members of the public who had approached them, and also the Micro Lab in whose name the forged reports were issued. Consequently, the Crime was registered.

4. The allegation in Crime 484/20, is that the applicant had similarly collected samples for COVID-19 tests from persons, as the collecting agent of R-CELL Diagnostic and Research Centre, (‘R-CELL’ for short) Kozhikode, yet another authorised Lab, and after having collected samples and taken money, issued fake reports in the name of R-CELL. A complaint was filed by Russel Mohammed, the Managing Partner of R-CELL, stating that the applicant had on 03/09/2020, collected sample of a person named Haneefa Pottammal Mohammed, and send the said sample together with other samples to R-CELL for examination. The said person had tested positive for COVID-19, and as required, the information was communicated to the DMO and DSO, and the information was also uploaded to the State Government Portal. But when the authorities contacted the infected person Haneefa, he informed them that the applicant has issued a negative report to him. The applicant had in fact issued a fake negative report. The complainant states that the applicant has issued several such forged and fake reports. In consequence of this complaint, Crime 484/2020 was also registered against the applicant and others for similar offences as alleged in the earlier Crime.

5. All the co-accused except the applicant were arrested. They were subsequently released on regular bail. The applicant apprehends that he too may be arrested, and hence, he has approached this court for pre-arrest bail, after his applications were dismissed by the Sessions Court.

6. The applicant’s version is that he is innocent, and has not committed any forgery as alleged. It is stated that the applicant’s Lab has a very good reputation, and has been functioning for the last 25 years. There has been no complaints about his Lab, so far. On 13/09/2020, a person named Abdul Azeez Poyyakodi, employed in Dubai, wanted to get a RTPCR test for detecting COVID-19 conducted, as he was travelling to Dubai on 16/09/2020. The sample provided by him was forwarded to Micro Lab for examination. On 14/09/2020, Micro Lab forwarded an report stating that no SARS-CoV-2 was detected in the sample