The court denied bail due to the gravity of the charges and sufficient evidence linking the petitioner to a conspiracy to commit murder.

ORDER :

KULDEEP MATHUR, J.

1. This application for bail under Section 483 BNSS (439 Cr.P.C.) has been filed by the petitioner who has been arrested in connection with F.I.R. No.609/2024 registered at Police Station Sadar Sri Ganganagar, Dist. Sri Ganganagar, for the offences under Sections 111(2)(b), 111(3), 111(4), 55, 61(2)(a) of BNS.

2. As per the prosecution, the petitioner- Rajendra Prasad @ Jeetu is member of a gang formed by co-accused persons Anmol Bishnoi, Arjun Bishnoi, Amit @ Jack Pandit which is involved in extorting money by putting people under the threat of death. The allegation against the petitioner is that he, in furtherance of the conspiracy hatched by co-accused persons to kill the complainant- Sunil Kumar @ Sunil Pandit conducted recce’ of his house and procured weapons for this purpose. As per the prosecution, the petitioner was also provided a GPS device by the co-accused to conduct the said recce’.

3. Heard learned counsel for the parties at Bar. Perused the material available on record.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. Learned counsel submitted that the only allegation against the present petitioner is of conducting recce’ of the house of the complainant and there is nothing on record to indicate that the petitioner had any direct connection with co-accused persons Anmol Bishnoi, Arjun Bishnoi, Amit @ Jack Pandit or he had any knowledge about their intentions of killing the complainant. Learned counsel submitted that the petitioner is in judicial custody since long and the trial of the case will take sufficiently long time to conclude. Therefore, the benefit of bail should be extended to the petitioner.

5. Per contra, learned Public Prosecutor has vehemently opposed the bail application. Learned Public Prosecutor submitted that ample evidence is available on record to connect the present petitioner with the alleged offence of hatching conspiracy to commit murder of the complainant. Learned counsel submitted that since the petitioner is a member of a criminal organization which is involved in the cases of contract murder, therefore, considering the gravity of the offence and nature of accusations against the present petitioner, the present bail application deserves to be dismissed by this Court.

6. From the perusal of the case file, this Court prima facie finds that there is sufficient evidence available on record to indicate that the petitioner was conducting recce’ of the complainant- Sunil Kumar @ Sunil Pandit with co-accused persons, on being asked to do so, by other members of the said gang/criminal organization who had previously threatened the complainant of being killed if he would continue giving his support to Shri Rajkumar Gaur, who was contesting elections for Member of Legislative Assembly.

7. This Court looking to the gravity of the offence and the nature of the allegations levelled against the present petitioner, does not find the present case to be a fit case for grant of bail to the accused-petitioner.

8. Consequently, the present bail application is rejected. However, petitioner shall be at liberty to file a fresh bail application after recording the statements of the investigating officer before the competent criminal Court.