The court determined that bail should be granted to the accused in light of the predominantly civil nature of the dispute and the absence of need for custodial interrogation, emphasizing protection of personal liberty over pre-trial detention.

JUDGMENT :

G. Satapathy, J.

1. This is an application U/S.483 of BNSS by the petitioner for grant of bail in connection with Markatnagar P.S. Case No.97 of 2025 corresponding to G.R. Case No.512 of 2025 pending in the Court of learned J.M.F.C.-I (Cog.Taking), Cuttack, for commission of offences punishable U/Ss. 318(4)/319(2)/336(3)/354/115(2)/127(2)/351(3)/308(5)/ 308(7) of BNS.

2. The present case arises out of an FIR lodged by one Vijay Khandelwal alleging therein that he came in contact with the petitioner during a spiritual gathering in the year 2022 at his residence and taking advantage of the informant’s religious inclination and emotional vulnerability, the petitioner misrepresenting himself to be a son of one IAS Officer, fraudulently projected himself as a person endowed with spiritual powers and accordingly, deceitfully induced the informant with false representation and gaining emotional control and trust of the informant and exploiting his influence, the petitioner gradually intruded into the informant’s business activity and personal affairs and in the process, the petitioner managed to transfer the land in his favour through a false gift deed and also obtained an adoption deed by forging the signatures of the informant and his wife, and the petitioner had also taken a sum of Rs.60 to 70 Lakhs through bank accounts from the informant for buying a land in UP and later on took Rs.1Crore through bank and made fixed deposit without any knowledge of the informant. It is also alleged by the informant that the petitioner was always travelling in his(informant’s) vehicles and subsequently, induced the informant to purchase vehicles and accordingly, the informant purchased vehicles namely, one Hyundai Exeter bearing Regd. No. OD-02-CT-4067 & another Toyota Fortunner bearing Regd. No.OD-05-BE-1188. The informant, however, could know from his daughters that the petitioner induced him to part a sum to the tune of approximately Rs.3 to 4 Crores on the pretext of him being a God man. On this background, the informant has lodged an FIR against the petitioner, who was taken into custody on 25.05.2025 and upon completion of investigation, charge sheet has been placed in this case for commission of offence punishable U/Ss.318(4)/ 319(2)/ 336(3)/ 354/ 115(2)/127(2)/351(3)/308(5)/308(7) of BNS. Being unsuccessful in securing his liberty before the learned trial Court and the learned Sessions Court, the petitioner is before this Court in this present bail application.

3. Heard, Mr. Durga Prasad Nanda, learned Senior Counsel, who is being assisted by Mr. Bibhuti Bhusan Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. T.K. Acharya, learned Addl. PP and Mr. Dharanidhar Nayak, learned Senior Counsel, who is being assisted by Ms. Bini Mishra, learned counsel for the informant in the matter and perused the record. In addition to their oral arguments, the parties have filed their written notes of submission.

4. The rival submissions made by the parties make it very clear that the petitioner seeks for his liberty on the ground that the dispute between him and the informant being predominantly civil in nature, and his detention in custody, but the learned counsels for the informant and the State opposes the prayer for bail of the petitioner for his involvement in financial fraud and his criminal antecedents. This Court, before delving upon the rival contentions, needs to state here that bail deals with the two conflicting interest of personal liberty and societal interest, which arises out of the interest of the aggrieved party-cum- informant in a criminal case and bail means the conditional liberty, however, it i