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Digitally 2026:CGHC:23009

signed by

VAISHALI

VAISHALILUCKY

LUCKY NAGARIA NAFR

NAGARIA Date:

2026.05.18

14:38:16

+0530

HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

MCRC No. 4581 of 2026

1 - Mohammad Munaf Khatri S/o Late Mohammad Harun Khatri,

Aged About 48 Years R/o Ward No. 06, Kabir Nagar, Nearby Bharat

Gas, Basna, Police Station Basna, District- Mahasamund (C.G.)

2 - Tahira Bano W/o Mohammad Munaf Khatri Aged About 48 Years

R/o Ward No. 06, Kabir Nagar, Nearby Bharat Gas, Basna, Police

Station Basna, District- Mahasamund (C.G.)

... Applicant(s)

versus

1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Of

Police Station City Kotwali Dhamtari, District- Dhamtari (C.G.)

... Respondent(s)

(Cause title is taken from Case Information System)

For Applicant(s) : Mr. Anil Kumar Gulati, Advocate

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Soumya Rai, Dy.G.A.

Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice

Order on Board

14.05.2026

1. This is the second bail application filed under Section 483 of the

BNSS for grant of regular bail to the applicants who have been

arrested in connection with Crime No. 154/2025 registered at

Police Station - City Kotwali Dhamtari, District Dhamtari, (C.G.)

for the offence punishable under Sections 331(4), 305(A) read

with 3(5) and 111(2)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

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(BNS).

2. The earlier bail application of the applicants being MCRC No.

10043 of 2025 was rejected by this Court vide order dated

10.12.2025 on merits.

3. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that the FIR was lodged

by one Ayodhya Prasad Pandey, who is the priest/Pujari at

Durga Mandir Ratnabandha situated at Dhamtari and it was

alleged in the FIR that in the intervening night of 17-05-2025 to

18-05-2025, some unknown persons entered into the temple

broken the lock of temple and stolen the money and silver

ornaments. Subsequently the matter being investigated by the

police and initially the applicants alongwith other accused

persons have been arrested in respect of crime No.165/2025

and the memorandum statement of applicants and other

accused persons were recorded in respect of Crime

No.165/2025 and the memorandum and seizure of crime

No.165/2025 was used in the present crime also and nothing

has been seized from the applicants in respect of the present

crime number.

4. Learned counsel for the applicants submits that, the first bail

application of the applicants was rejected by this Court on

merits. He submits that the present applicants are innocent and

have been falsely implicated in the present case. It is submitted

that during investigation, memorandum statements of the

applicants were recorded in Crime No.165/2025 of Police

Station Kurud and seizure was also made only in that case. It is

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further submitted that the said memorandum and seizure of

Crime No.165/2025 have been relied upon by the prosecution

to implicate the applicants in other cases including the present

Crime No.157/2025. He further submits that though certain

criminal cases have been shown against the applicants, there is

in fact no independent criminal antecedent against them, and

all the cases have been registered only on the basis of a single

memorandum statement recorded in Crime No.165/2025. It is

submitted that on the basis of the said one memorandum

statement, as many as seven criminal cases including the

present case have been registered, without any separate

recovery or independent material, and therefore the alleged

criminal antecedents are not genuine. He further submits that

co-accused Mahmuda Begam has already been enlarged on bail

by this Hon’ble Court in MCRC No.3543/2026, 3566/2026,

3560/2026, 3555/2026 and 3544/2026 vide order dated

20.04.2026, and the case of the present applicants stands on

similar footing. It is further submitted that there is no recovery

from the possession of the applicants in the present Crime

No.154/2025 and the case is based only on memorandum. It is

also submitted that there are total 13 witnesses, out of which

08 have been examined, and trial will take time. The applicants

are i