IMPORTANT POINT
Anticipatory Bail – Successive anticipatory bail applications cannot be maintained without any change in circumstances.

JUDGMENT

Alok Kumar Verma, J.—This is the Second Anticipatory Bail Application. The First Anticipatory Bail Application (No.04 of 2022) was rejected by this Court vide order dated 16.02.2022.

2. Facts, to the limited extent necessary, are that in the scholarship scam matter, vide letter dated 17.04.2018 of the Principal Secretary, Home of the Government of Uttarakhand a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted. Sub-Inspector Lalita Chufal, the informant of this matter, was appointed as a member of the said Special Investigation Team. After enquiry, she lodged a First Information Report on 14.10.2019 against Manav Bharti Vishwa Vidyalaya, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. After completion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed against the present applicant.

3. During the investigation, evidence are found that the present applicant was the owner of N Power Academy. The said Academy was run and managed by the present applicant. The said Academy of the applicant was not recognized by Manav Bharti Vishwa Vidyalaya, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. The owner of the said Academy had forwarded the list of the concerned students to the Social Welfare Department to get scholarship of the said students and tuition fee. The Social Welfare Department had released the scholarship amount including the tuition fee to the said Academy and the said amount was deposited in the account of the present applicant, the owner of the said Academy.

4. Apprehending his arrest, the present applicant – accused had moved an application for anticipatory bail before the District and Sessions Judge, Haridwar in connection with the First Information Report No.357 of 2019, registered with Police Station SIDCUL, District Haridwar for the offence under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of IPC. On 24.12.2021, the learned In-charge District and Sessions Judge, Haridwar had rejected the said application for anticipatory bail.

5. The First Anticipatory Bail Application (No.04 of 2022), under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, was filed by the present applicant before this Court seeking anticipatory bail in the event of his arrest. After filing the charge-sheet, the said First Anticipatory Bail Application (No.04 of 2022) was filed by the present applicant.

6. Heard Mr. Bhupesh Kandpal, the learned counsel for the applicant and Mr. Pratiroop Pandey, the learned AGA for the State.

7. Mr. Bhupesh Kandpal, the learned counsel appearing for the applicant, argued that the applicant was not named in the First Information Report, but, subsequently, he was named when the charge-sheet was filed. The charge-sheet was filed against the present applicant on the basis of the statement of a witness, namely, Anupama Thakur, the then Registrar of Manav Bharti Vishwa Vidyalaya, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, who is also an accused, but, the legal preposition of law was ignored and the charge-sheet was filed. The learned counsel for the applicant further submitted that N Power Academy was not fictitious Academy. The said Academy was running in the building of Ashok Kumar Gupta. After the rejection of the First Anticipatory Bail Application, the wife of the applicant found certain relevant records i.e. bank record/ statement, which shows that the scholarship amounts were paid to the students. The allegations against the applicant are highly improbable and further in order to show the bona fide, the applicant is continuously requesting that he is ready and willing to submit the bank guarantee before the authority. The learned counsel for the applicant further argued that the allegations against the applicant are not maintainable and are liable to be set aside.

8. On the other hand, Mr. Pratiroop Pandey, the learned AGA appearing for the State, has vehemently opposed the maintainability of this Second Anticipatory Bail Application and submitted that the present Second Anticipatory Bail Application is not maintainable. He further submitted that the applicant has not