This petition is filed by the accused No.4

under

section

439

of

The

Code

of

Criminal

Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the

8Cr.P.C.9,

for

brevity)

seeking

bail

in

Crime

No.80/2022 of Kundagol Police Station registered

for the offences punishable under Sections 489A

and 489C of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter

referred to as the 8IPC9, for brevity).

2.

The case of the prosecution is that, on

06.08.2022

at

about

4.00

p.m.,

when

the

complainant was on patrolling duty he received a

credible information that accused No.1 in his milk

shop under the name and style 8Aditya Milk9 near

Navaratna Hotel, Market Road, Kundagol Town has

stored the counterfeit notes. The complainant

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filed the complaint to that effect, which came to be

registered in Crime No.80/2022 of Kundagol Police

Station against accused No.1 for the offences

punishable under Sections 489A and 489C of IPC.

During the enquiry and on the basis of voluntary

statement of accused No.1, accused Nos.2 to 4

have

been

implicated

in

the

case.

The

petitioner/accused No.4 came to be arrested on

08.08.2022 and he is in judicial custody. The

petitioner

has

filed

Criminal

Miscellaneous

No.5418/2022 seeking bail and the same came to

be

rejected

by

the

I Additional District

and

Sessions Judge, Dharwad sitting at Hubballi by

order

dated

02.09.2022.

Therefore,

petitioner/accused

No.4

is

before

this

Court

seeking bail.

- 4 -

3.

Heard the arguments of learned counsel

appearing for the petitioner and learned High Court

Government Pleader for the respondent-State.

4.

It would be the contention of learned

counsel for the petitioner that the name of this

petitioner is not mentioned in the complaint and

FIR. The petitioner came to be implicated only on

the basis of voluntary statement of accused No.1.

The colour printer and other articles were seized at

the instance of this petitioner from his house.

Only with the help of colour printer it is not

possible

to

print

fake

currency

notes.

The

petitioner is in judicial custody since 08.08.2022

and therefore he is not required for custodial

interrogation. With this, he prayed to allow the

petition.

5.

Per

contra,

learned

High

Court

Government

Pleader

would

contend

that

the

- 5 -

investigation is still in progress. The colour

printer and other articles have been seized at the

instance of the petitioner/accused No.4 from his

house. The offences alleged against this petitioner

are

punishable

with

imprisonment

for

life

or

imprisonment which may extend to ten years and

fine. If the petitioner/accused No.4 is granted

bail,

there

are

chances

of

hampering

the

investigation

and

tampering

the

prosecution

witnesses. With this, he prayed to reject the

petition.

6.

Having regard to the submissions made

by learned counsel for the petitioner and learned

High Court Government Pleader, this Court has

gone through FIR, complaint, remand application

and the order passed by the Sessions Court.

- 6 -

7.

The colour printer and other articles have

been seized at the instance of this petitioner from

his house and they were seized under Mahazar.

The said printer and other articles are stated to

have been used by this petitioner in printing the

fake currency notes. It is accusation that this

petitioner printed the fake currency notes of the

denomination of Rs.500 by using Epson colour

printer seized from his house. Apart from that,

the colour printer and other articles have been also

seized at the instance of this petitioner from his

house. The offences alleged against this petitioner

under

Section

489A

and

489C

of

IPC

are

punishable

with

imprisonment

for

life

or

imprisonment which may extend ten years and

fine. The offences alleged against this petitioner

are heinous offences. The investigation is still in

progress.

The

Investigating

Officer

has

to

ascertain whether there is an involvement of any

- 7 -

other person in the alleged offences. Therefore, at

this stage, when the investigation is in progress,

the petitioner is not entitle for g