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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU

DATED THIS THE 21^ST DAY OF OCTOBER 2020

BEFORE

THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SREENIVAS HARISH KUMAR

CRIMINAL PETITION No. 5052 OF 2020

C/W

CRIMINAL PETITION No.5062 OF 2020

In Crl.P.No.5052/2020

BETWEEN

1.

Mr. K.Ramakrishna,

S/o. Mr. Krishnaiah,

Aged about 70 years,

2.

Mr. K.R.Venugopal

S/o. Mr. K.Ramakrishna

Aged about 35 years,

Both are Residents of No.32/1,

‘Bhagyalakshmi Nilaya’,

Model House 3^rd Street,

Basavanagudi,

Bengaluru-560004.

…Petitioners

(By Sri. I.S.Pramod Chandra, Advocate)

AND

State of Karnataka

By Shankarapura Police

(Now being investigated

By CID),

Through the State Public Prosecutors,

High Court Building,

2

Dr. Ambedkar Veedhi,

Bengaluru-560001.

…Respondent

(By Sri. V.M.Sheelvanth, SPPI along with

Sri. V.S.Vinayaka, HCGP)

This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 438

Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioner on bail in the event

of his arrest in Cr.No.8/2020 of Shankarapura Police

Station, Bengaluru, for the offence punishable under Section

406 read with Section 34 of IPC.

In Crl.P.No.5062/2020

BETWEEN

1.

Mr. K.Ramakrishna,

S/o. Mr. Krishnaiah,

Aged about 70 years,

2.

Mr. K.R.Venugopal

S/o. Mr. K.Ramakrishna

Aged about 35 years,

Both are Residents of No.32/1,

‘Bhagyalakshmi Nilaya’,

Model House 3^rd Street,

Basavanagudi,

Bengaluru-560004.

…Petitioners

(By Sri. I.S.Pramod Chandra, Advocate)

AND

State of Karnataka

By Shankarapura Police

(Now being investigated

By CID),

Through the State Public Prosecutors,

High Court Building,

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Dr. Ambedkar Veedhi,

Bengaluru-560001.

…Respondent

(By Sri. V.M.Sheelvanth, SPPI along with

Sri. V.S.Vinayaka, HCGP)

This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 438

Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioner on bail in the event

of his arrest in Cr.No.11/2020 registered by Shankarapura

Police Station, Bengaluru, for the offence punishable under

Sections 120(B), 406, 418, 420 and 477(A) read with Section

34 of IPC.

These Criminal Petitions coming on for orders through

video conferencing this day, the court made the following:

ORDER

These two petitions for anticipatory bail are disposed

of by a common order as the State Public Prosecutor has

raised question of maintainability.

2. The petitioners have sought anticipatory bail in

connection with two FIRs in Crime No.8/2020 and Crime

No.11/2020 registered by the respondent police in relation

to offences punishable under Section 406 of Indian Penal

Code and Section 9 of Karnataka Protection of Interest of

Depositors in Financial Establishments Act (‘the Act’ for

short) read with Section 34 of IPC. The first petitioner is the

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President and the second petitioner is the Vice President of

Gurusarva Bhowma Souharda Credit Co-operative Limited.

FIR in Crime No.8/2020 was registered at the instance of a

depositor by name Y.G.Prasanna Narasimha, and Crime

No.11/2020 at the instance of Mr. Sanjay Koratakar, Special

Officer.

Both

the

complainants

have

alleged

misappropriation by the management of Gurusarva Bhouma

Souharda Credit Co-operative Limited.

3. The State Public Prosecutor Sri. V.M.Sheelavant

takes preliminary objection to the maintainability of the

petitions under Section 438 of Cr.P.C., he refers to Section

18(2) of the Act and argues that it excludes the applicability

of Section 438 of Cr.P.C. But learned counsel for petitioners

Sri. I.S.Pramod Chandra argues this way: Section 18(2) is

bar for the Special Court constituted under the Act, it is not

applicable to the High court. And this is the reason for the

petitions for anticipatory bail being filed in the High court

directly. A Co-ordinate bench of this court has granted

anticipatory bail for the similar offences, he refers to query

report pertaining to Criminal Petition 3921/2020 and

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Criminal Petition 4171/2020 obtained from the official

website of this Court. His further subm