The court emphasized that bail is a discretionary order requiring careful consideration of the nature of the accusation, severity of punishment, and risk of tampering with evidence, especially for habitual offenders.

JUDGMENT :

(Chandra Dhari Singh, J.)

1. The applicant through his brother Ram Balesh Yadav has preferred the instant bail application under section 439 Cr.P.C seeking regular bail in Case Crime No. 112 of 2023, under Section 406, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B IPC, Police Station – Aims, District – Gorakhpur.

Brief Facts

2. The briefly stated basic facts of the application are as under:

(i) The applicant has been in jail since 28.7.2023. The first informant Pushpa Prajapati lodged a first information report (for short ‘FIR’) on 7.9.2025 at 6:07 PM against the applicant and another person namely Ajay Sharma, was registered as Case Crime No. 112 of 2023, under Section 406, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B IPC, Police Station – Aims, District – Gorakhpur.

(ii) It is alleged in the FIR that the applicant is a property dealer and in lieu of providing land of Gata No. 112 situated at village – Bahrampur, Tehsil – Chauri Chaura, District – Gorakhpur, he has taken an amount of Rs. 50,000/- and Rs. 2,00,000/- from complainant Pushpa Prajapati. At the time of execution of sale deed the first informant gave two cheques amounting to Rs. 7,00,000/- and Rs. 2,00,000/ in the name of “Vindhyavasini Traders”. After sometime, he returned both the cheques and stated that the signatures made on the cheques did not match. Thereafter, she transferred an amount of Rs. 2,00,000/- in the account of one Ajay Sharma, thereby a sum of Rs. 14,50,000/- paid to the applicant for the said property. It is further alleged that after purchasing the said property, Pushpa Prajapati also constructed a residential house and has been residing alongwith family., during that period she came to know of the fact that the sale deed was executed by standing imposter person showing himself to be Ajay Sharma, real owner of the land. The applicant had applied for bail before Additional Sessions Judge, Court No. 2, Gorakhpur which was rejected vide order dated 16.6.2024 on the ground of gravity of offence committed by the applicant is heinous in nature.

(iii) Co-accused namely Chandra Shekhar Shahi, Sub Registrar, who registered the alleged sale deed has been granted bail by the Additional Sessions Judge/ Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) (UPSEB), Gorakhpur vide order dated 7.11.2023 on the ground that he was not named in the FIR and same sale deed registered by him has still not been declared invalid by any court of law.

(iv) There are criminal history of 52 cases against the accused/applicant and most of the cases are filed against the accused under Section 420 IPC. Moreover, out of 52 criminal cases including present case, applicant has been granted bail and no charge sheet has been filed against the accused/applicant in the remaining cases yet. Submissions by the counsel for the applicant.

3. It is submitted that the alleged sale deed was executed on 11.11.2019 and the FIR was lodged in the year 2023 after lapse of 4 years of the incident without explanation of the delay in lodging the said FIR. It is vehemently submitted that the FIR is lodged as after thought with malice intent.

4. According to the FIR, it is submitted that alleged amount of Rs. 14,50,000/- was paid to the applicant as well as to co-accused Ajay Sharma . However, the applicant received total amount of Rs. 9,60,000/- in his account and Rs. 2,00,000/- was received through RTGS in the account of Ajay Sharma on 4.12.2019.

5. It is submitted that the applicant has transferred entire amount which was deposited by the first informant in the account of the applicant through co-accused Ajay Sharma at the time of execution of sale deed. After taking entire consideration of amount of land in question, co- accused Ajay Sharma has executed sale deed in favour of first informant Smt. Pushpa Prajapati, in which there is no fault of the applicant. It is contended that the real owner of the subject property is Ajay Sharma, who has executed the sale deed. He has also submitted his Aadhar Card in the office of Sub-Registrar