Bail cannot be granted in an arbitrary manner and must be supported by prima facie reasons, particularly in cases involving serious offenses.

JUDGMENT :

Alok Kumar Verma, J.

These three Bail Applications have been filed for grant of regular bail in connection with the Case Crime No.01 of 2020, registered at police station Vigilance Sector, Dehradun, District Dehradun.

2. Applicants are in judicial custody under Sections 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 201, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 13(1) (d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

3. These three Bail Applications have arisen from one Case Crime No. i.e. Case Crime No. 01 of 2020, therefore, these three Bail Applications are being considered and decided by this common order. Record of the Bail Application No. 159 of 2023 will be leading file.

4. Heard learned counsel for the parties at length and perused the materials placed on record.

5. Mr. Lalit Sharma, Advocate appearing for the State, submitted that the case of the prosecution is that an inquiry was conducted under the Chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand, regarding OMR sheets manipulation scam, committed in the examination of Village Panchayat Development Officer, conducted by the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (in short, “Commission”). The said examination was conducted on 06.03.2016 at 236 centers in all 13 districts of the State. The process of scanning took place between 21.03.2016 to 26.03.2016, and the result was declared on 30.03.2016. During inquiry, it was found that the OMR sheets manipulation scam was committed in the said examination. Therefore, State Government had referred the matter to the Vigilance Department for inquiry on 23.07.2019. The Vigilance Department had conducted an inquiry. The OMR sheets of 90 successful candidates were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Lucknow for examination. The fact of manipulation in 54 OMR sheets out of those 90 OMR sheets was confirmed by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Lucknow. Apart from this, the Forensic Science Laboratory also confirmed that front pages of three OMR sheets were torn. The Vigilance Department had conducted the inquiry. The Vigilance Department vide its report dated 20.11.2019 recommended for investigation. Upon the recommendation of the Vigilance Department, the State Government vide its letter dated 31.12.2019 directed for registration of the First Information Report. The First Information Report was lodged at Vigilance Sector, Dehradun on 08.01.2020 and later on 08.08.2022, the investigation was handed over to the Special Task Force, Dehradun. Statements under Section 161 and Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 were recorded. Upon conclusion of the investigation, charge-sheet has been filed.

6. Mr. Arvind Vashisth, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the applicant-Manohar Singh Kanyal, has argued that the applicant was the Secretary of the Commission. On 09.01.2016, it was decided by the then Chairman of the Commission (applicant-Raghubir Singh Rawat) along with the other members of the Commission including Examination Controller (applicant-Rajender Singh Pokhriya) that a confidential place is required for scanning of OMR sheets. Therefore, it would be appropriate to rent the house of the applicant’s wife for scanning the OMR sheets. After the completion of the said examination on 06.03.2016, on 14.03.2016 and 19.03.2016, orders were issued by the present applicant to the Contractor-RMS Techno Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. at Lucknow. The said letters had the directions as to how to proceed for the scanning of the OMR sheets and the entire process to be adopted.

7. Mr. Arvind Vashisth, learned Senior Advocate, further argued that one Diwan Singh Bhainsora was the member of the Commission. His daughter-in-law had appeared in the said examination, but could not succeed and therefore, he had lodged various kinds of complaints to cancel the said examination. On 05.05.2016 i.e. before the examination was cancelled, Examination Controller wrote a letter to the Chairman of the C