The right to default bail stands extinguished after the filing of the final report, and compliance with legal provisions is essential.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer in Crl.A.No.393 of 2022: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 21 of NIA Act, to call for the records in Crl.M.P.No.98 of 2022 dated 3.1.2022 on the file of the Principal Sessions Court, Kanchipuram District, Chengalpattu in Cr.No.1 of 2021 on the file of the respondent No.1 (now the records are available before the Special Court for NIA Cases in Cr.No.R.C.No.2/2022/NIA/DLI) and set aside the same and grant bail to the appellants.

In Crl.A.No.479 of 2022: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 21 of NIA Act, to call for the records in Crl.M.P.No.142 of 2022 dated 19.04.2022 in R.C.02/2022/NIA/DLI on the file of the Special Court for NIA Cases, at Poonamallee, Chennai and set-aside the same and grant bail to the appellant.)

Common Order:

RMT. Teekaa Raman, J.

1. Crl.A.No.393 of 2022 is filed by A2 and A3 challenging the extension of remand period from 90 days to 180 days on the petition filed by the respondent police. Elongation of period from 90 days to 180 days in Crl.M.P.No.98 of 2022 dated 03.01.2022 and consequently seeks grant of bail.

2. Crl.A.No.479 of 2022 is filed by A3 alone for grant of bail by challenging the order passed by the Special Court, NIA in Crl.M.P.No.142 of 2022 dated 19.04.2022. Since the contentions raised in both the cases are common. Common arguments heard.

3. The facts distilled from the final report in Spl.S.C.No.01 of 2022 on the file of the Special Judge, Special Court for Trial of NIA Cases at Poonamallee, Chennai are as under:-

The deceased Hamida A Lalljee (for short “Hamida”) was having a Savings Bank Account in Indian Overseas Bank, Mumbai Fort Branch, in which, around Rs.40,00,00,000/- [Rupees Forty Crores only] was available. It appears that the said SB Account was not frequently operated. This came to the notice of the The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (for short “LTTE”), a proscribed Terrorist Organization under the Unlawful Assembly (Prevention) Act, 1967 (for short “UAP Act”) and that they decided to stealthily siphon off the said money for their organization. One Umakanthan @ Idhayan @ Charles @ Iniyan, a key LTTE operative stationed in Europe was closely monitoring the said savings bank account. On his directions, a Srilankan Tamil lady Letchumanan Mary Franciska (A1) [for short “Mary”] came to India and managed to obtain documents like Aadhaar, Pan and Indian Passport in her name. One Kenniston Fernando (A2), K.Baskaran (A3), C. Johnson Samuel (A4), G. Dharmendran (A5) and E.Mohan (A6) also joined the bandwagon at various stages of operations in order to knock-off the money. They started to create fake Power of Attorney as if the deceased Hamida had given it in favour of A1, armed with which, they attempted to withdraw the amount from the said account of the deceased Hamida. However, before they could execute their dubious plan, misfortune fell on them when A1-Mary was intercepted at Chennai Airport on 01.10.2021 with an Indian Passport and, thereafter, she was handed over to the 'Q' Branch CID of the State Police which conducted preliminary enquiries and registered a case in Crime No.01 of 2021 for the offence under Section 12(1)(b), 12(1-A)(a) of the Passport Act, 1967 r/w 420, 465, 468, 471 IPC r/w 14(a) of Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 2004 and arrested Mary (A1) and produced before the Judicial Magistrate-I, Alandur, Chennai, who remanded her in judicial custody. Subsequently, 'Q' Branch CID altered the case in Crime No.01 of 2021 and added Section 18, 39 and 40 of the UAP Act, 1967 and filed an alteration report. Since the provisions of UAP Act were added to the FIR, the case records were transferred from the Court of the Judicial Magistrate to the Court of Principal District and Session, Chengalpattu, which is the designated court for trial under the UAP Act cases. Pursuant to the transfer of the case, the accused were produced before the Court of Session, Chengalpattu, for remand from time to time.

4. The ninety days remand envisaged by S.167 of Cr.P.C. was to ex