2026:CGHC:5791 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRC No. 1107 of 2026 Indrapal Sahu S/o Jeevanlal Sahu Aged About 23 Years R/o Village Nagoi Chowki Jatga Police Station And Tehsil Katghora District Korba Chhattisgarh ... Applicant versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through - Station House Officer, Police Station Darima District Surguja (C.G.) ... Non-Applicant _____________________________________________________

For Applicant :Mr. Sajal Kumar Gupta, Advocate.

SISTLA NEELIMA VISHNU PRIYA For Non-applicant/State :Ms. Ankita Shukla, PL.

Digitally signed by SISTLA NEELIMA VISHNU PRIYA Date: 2026.02.03 Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice

Order on Board

02.02.2026

1. The applicant has preferred this 1^st Bail Application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for grant of regular bail, as he has been arrested in connection with Crime No.128/2025 registered at Police Station – Darima, District Surguja (C.G.), for the offence under Sections 331(4), 305(A), 317(2) 112 and (3)5 of the BNS, 2023.

2. Briefly stated, the prosecution case, in brief, is that the complainant, on behalf of Surbhi Women Self Help Group, Village Khala, which runs a Fair Price Shop, lodged a report at Police Station Darima alleging that in the intervening night of 06.09.2025 at about 02:00 a.m., unknown persons committed theft of ration materials from the shop. The miscreants forcibly removed 30 quintals of rice, 6 quintals of sugar, and 2 quintals of gram, valued at approximately ₹41,200/-, whereupon offence under Sections 331(4) and 305(A) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered and investigation commenced. During investigation, accused Krishna Dhimar, Rafiq Khan and Pawan Kumar, who were arrested in Crime No.228/2025 of Police Station Jaynagar, disclosed their involvement in the present offence and named Raja Sonwani and Rakesh Sonwani as co-accused stating that they had conducted prior reconnaissance of the Fair Price Shop. Subsequently, accused Raja Sonwani was apprehended on 02.10.2025 and during custodial interrogation, disclosed the involvement of other accused persons in the commission of the offence as well as similar thefts at other places. It further surfaced that the stolen ration articles were sold to Pawan Agarwal of Katghora and the sale proceeds were distributed among the accused each receiving about ₹5,000/-. The amount was thereafter spent and a Platinum motorcycle was used in facilitating the commission of the offence. Hence, this application.

3. Learned Advocate for the applicant submits that the present applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the case. He submits that this is the first bail application and the applicant is in custody since 16.10.2025, investigation is complete and challan has already been filed; hence, no further custodial interrogation is required. He further submits that FIR was lodged against unknown persons and the implication of the applicant is solely on the basis of memorandum statements of co-accused, with no recovery effected from him. He further submits that though on the basis of one memorandum statement, 7 FIR have been registered against the applicant but out of the same, he has been granted bail by the trial Court in 4 cases and the other 3 cases have also been duly explained. He further submits that co-accused Krishna Dhimar has already been granted bail by this Court vide order dated 13.01.2026 passed in M.Cr.C. No.418/2026 and conclusion of trial is likely to take quite some time, therefore, the present applicant may also be granted bail on the grounds of parity.

4. On the other hand, learned State Counsel opposes the bail application.

5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the case diary.

6. Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, submission of learned Counsel for the parties, further considering that no recovery was effected from the applicant on the basis of memorandum statements of co-accused, also considering