Anticipatory bail should not be granted routinely in serious economic offences involving large-scale fraud, as custodial interrogation is crucial for effective investigation.

ORDER :

A.BADHARUDEEN, J.

Dated this the 19^th day of February, 2026 This is an application for anticipatory bail filed by the petitioner, who is the 1^st accused in Crime No.1032/2024 of Crime Branch, Thiruvananthapuram, where the prosecution alleges commission of offences punishable under Sections 120B, 201, 406, 409, 420, 465 and 475 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 13 (1)(a) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, by the accused persons.

2. The prosecution case, in brief, is that the 1^st accused, being the elected President of Kandala Service Co- operative Society T No.197 of Thiruvananthapuram District, and accused Nos.2 to 5, who served as Secretaries of the bank during the period from 2005 to 2022, along with accused Nos.6 to 17, who were the elected members of the Board of Directors during the said period, being public servants, with the intention to deceive the depositors, conspired together and floated various deposit schemes by offering exorbitant rates of interest without obtaining sanction from the Co-operative Registrar. Thereafter, in contravention of the existing statutory provisions, the accused indulged in unauthorised appointment of staff, unauthorised constructions, grant of loans to their henchmen without obtaining proper collateral securities, diversion of funds to Maranalloor Milk Co-operative Society, and other unauthorised acts. These overt acts resulted in bankruptcy of the Society, and consequently the deposits entrusted with the accused were misappropriated by them for their own use. The total amount eroded due to the acts of the accused comes to Rs. 1,01,00,67,858 (Rupees One hundred and one crore sixty-seven thousand eight hundred and fifty- eight only).

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner seeks anticipatory bail on the submission that the petitioner is innocent and he is aged 71 years. According to the learned counsel, the petitioner got involved in 66 cases, and one among the same is a case registered by the ED. The petitioner had been in custody for a substantial period in the said crime, though he was granted regular bail later. Then, he was granted anticipatory bail by the Hon’ble Apex Court in some cases. Thus, by offering co-operation in the matter of investigation, the learned counsel counsel for the petitioner pressed for relief of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner.

4. The learned Public Prosecutor strongly opposed bail and zealously urged the necessity of custodial interrogation of the petitioner, in a case involving a very gigantic amount of misappropriation.

5. The contentions raised by the prosecution as could be seen from paragraph Nos.4 to 14 of the statement filed by the Investigating Officer are as under:

“4. Kandala Service Co-operative Bank Ltd No T.197 was registered under Kerala Co- operative Societies Act 1969 and is situated at Kandala in Neyyattinkara Taluk of Thiruvananthapuram District. Serious allegations of misappropriation and payment default to the investors led to the registration of 66 cases at Maranalloor Police Station within Thiruvananthapuram Rural District from 01/07/2023 to till date. All these cases are registered upon individual complaints of account holders except this case. This case was registered on 26/07/2024 at Maranalloor Police Station on the basis of the report of Joint Registrar (General) of Co- Operative Society. The Petitioner was the Elected President of the Kandala Co- Operative Bank for the last 30 years and he is the prime accused in all these cases.

5. State Police Chief vide Order No.D3- 167265/2023/PHQ, dtd. 09.10.2023 and Order No: D3-167265/2023/PHQ dated 04/07/2024, have transferred investigation of all these cases to Crime Branch CID. Accordingly, all these cases are re-registered at Crime Branch Police Station (Headquarter