ORDER

This is an application for pre-arrest bail under Section 438 of the Cr.P.C.

2. Petitioner is an accused in Crime No.282 of 2021 of Ambalathara Police Station, Kasargod, alleging offences under Sections 376 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

3. The prosecution case is that petitioner travelled from Kozhikode to Kasargod in the last week of March 2020 and committed sexual intercourse with the defacto complainant, who was an employee of the business partner of the petitioner and thereafter continued to rape her till January 2021, after taking photographs of their sexual relationship.

4. Sri.John Mathew, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that petitioner is totally innocent of the allegations and that the prosecution case is inherently improbable and false especially since from the last week of March 2020, the entire nation went into a lock-down with total travel restrictions. It was further submitted that the reason for the false complaint is a financial dispute between the brother-in-law of the defacto complainant and the petitioner and hence grant of pre-arrest bail is eminently required.

5. The learned Public Prosecutor upon instructions submitted that the al