$~1 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of decision:25^th February, 2025 + BAIL APPLN. 4757/2024 BENI PRASAD YADAV S/o. Shiv Prasad Yadav Presently in Judicial Custody (In FIR no. 266/2017 registered at PS: Amar Colony .....Petitioner Through: Ms. Malvika Kulkarni, Advocate.

Versus STATE OF NCT OF DELHI Through SHO PS: Amar Colony .....Respondent Through: Mr. Shoaib Haider, Additional Public Prosecutor for Respondent-State with Inspector Rizwan Khan, P.S.Amar Colony.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA J U D G M E N T (oral)

1. The Bail Application under Section 439 read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘Cr.P.C.’ hereinafter) and Section 528 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (‘B.N.S.S. 2023’ hereinafter), has been filed seeking grant of Regular bail in FIR No. 266/2017, under Sections 302/397/396/412/120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’ hereinafter), registered at Police Station Amar Colony, New Delhi.

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed

2. It is submitted in the Application that FIR in question was registered 11.07.2017 and Charge-sheet was filed on 07.10.2017. Charges under Sections 392/395/396/397/120B IPC have been framed vide Order dated 15.12.2018 against the Applicant. There are total 55 witnesses (including those 03 supplementary Charge-sheets) out of which 03 witnesses have been dropped by the Prosecution. Only 31 witnesses have been examined till date, while the examination of remaining Prosecution witnesses is likely to take substantial amount of time. The Applicant is in Judicial Custody 03.12.2017 and there is no reason for his incarceration to be extended further.

3. It is submitted by the Applicant that all the public witnesses have been examined and it is only the formal witnesses who remain to be examined and there is no risk of influencing the witnesses or tampering with the evidence. His continued judicial custody is no longer necessary, particularly considering that the entire case property is with the Investigating Agency and he has already undergone seven years of incarceration.

4. It is further submitted that as per the case of the Prosecution on 11.07.2017, a call was received from a man at about 05:25 AM that when he reached back home at around 03:15 PM as he had entered the house by using his own spare key and found that the almirah of the house was open and ransacked. His wife was found lying dead on the bed and her face and neck were covered with packing tape while her hands and legs were tied with cloth pieces and rope.

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed

5. It is alleged that the house-help Rajan was tied in the same room at the corner and was unable to move. The Complainant immediately made a PCR call. The Investigating Team was told by the Ambulance team that the woman was found dead.

6. The house-help Rajan was untied and he disclosed that at around 12 PM., he was at home along with the deceased when the other house help, co-accused Balram@Rohan and 3-4 men entered the house and talked to the co-accused Balram in sign language. It was stated that one of the men caught hold of the house-help Rajan and the other men approached the deceased and asked her to hand over the keys of the almirah. When she refused to do so, they took her to the bedroom and wrapped her face and neck with a packing tape making it difficult for her to breathe, while her hands and legs were tied with cloth and pillow case.

7. In the meanwhile, hands and legs of house help Rajan were tied using a chunni of the deceased. The accused persons allegedly stole the jewellery, gold and silver articles and cash from the house of the deceased, while leaving the lady to die and the house help in the state of helplessness.

8. The Applicant’s Application for Bail filed before the learned Additional Sessions Judge was dismissed vide Order dated 21.11.2024 stating that at the time of the incident, the Applicant was present at the place of the incident. However, in the absence o