Order on Board

1. Since the aforesaid two bail applications have been filed arising out of the same crime number, therefore, they are being disposed of by this common order.

2. These first anticipatory bail applications under Section 482 of the BNSS have been filed by the applicants, who are apprehending their arrest in connection with Crime No.0204/2026 registered at Police Station–Mahasamund, District–Mahasamund (CG) for the offence punishable under Sections 316(2), 316(5), 318(4) and 3(5) of the BNS.

3. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that the applicants, while employed with Manorama Industries Limited, were entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining and safeguarding complete drawings, processor data, production systems, and other important confidential information of the company, including its special technology, while ensuring complete secrecy and confidentiality. However, the applicants dishonestly and fraudulently shared the company’s confidential documents with other companies through their personal Gmail IDs, thereby causing financial loss to the company. Applicant Govind Yashwantrao Sewlikar was appointed as Assistant General Manager (Technical and Application) at Manorama Industries Limited and worked from 12.06.2023 to 30.10.2025 and applicant Mohan Sahukari was appointed as General Manager and worked from 01.10.2020 to 30.09.2025. Applicant Govind Yashwantrao Sewlikar, through his personal Gmail ID, namely gsewliker@gmail.com, sent emails containing confidential company information to skf@slavjanka.ru and also to applicant Mohan Sahukari. Confidential information of the company was further circulated through the official company email IDs assigned to them, namely govind@manoramagroup.co.in and mohan@manoramagroup.co.in, to their personal email IDs. The applicants, while in the employment of the company, systematically and fraudulently transmitted important confidential information of the company to other companies on 28.09.2024 and 19.07.2025. Thereafter, both resigned from the company and joined a competing company. When the company attempted to enquire with the applicants over telephone calls, they were unwilling to disclose any information.

4. Upon an internal investigation conducted by the company, it was revealed that the applicants were responsible for defrauding the company and misappropriating its confidential information. Accordingly, a complaint dated 15.04.2026 was lodged against the applicants, pursuant to which Crime No. 0204/2026 was registered at Mahasamund Police Station.

5. It is submitted by learned Senior Advocate appearing for the applicants that the entire dispute sought to be projected by the complainant is purely civil and contractual in nature arising out of an alleged breach of terms of employment, which has been deliberately given a colour of criminality only with an oblique motive to harass and pressurize the applicants. It is contended that applicant-Govind Yashwantrao Sewlikar was employed with the complainant company as AGM (Technical and Application) and had tendered his resignation in accordance with the terms of employment. Upon expiry of the notice period, the applicant was duly relieved from service on 30.10.2025 and was also issued a “No Dues Certificate” by the complainant company on the very same date, thereby clearly acknowledging that no liability or dispute subsisted against the applicant at the time of cessation of employment. It is submitted that the FIR has been lodged after more than five months from the date of relieving, which itself demonstrates that the allegations are an afterthought and have been engineered only after the applicant joined another organization.

6. It is further submitted that the allegations in the FIR do not disclose the commission of any cognizable offence warranting custodial interrogation of the applicants. The complainant alleges that applicant-Govind Yashwantrao Sewlikar had allegedly sent certain e-mails to a competitor company w