COMMON ORDER

[Bail Application Nos. 9739, 9740, 9742, 9743, 9744, 9745, 9746 and 9747 of 2024]

Dated this the 17^th day of December, 2024 These bail applications have been filed under Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023, seeking regular bail and the petitioner is the 5^th accused in Crime Nos.1734, 907, 596, 336, 261, 271, 234 of 2023 and 4^th accused in Crime No.162 of 2023 of Thiruvalla Police Station, Pathanamthitta.

2. In Crime No.1734/2023, the prosecution allegation is that, the 1^st accused being the Managing Director and other accused, who are the Directors of M/s SN Chitty Fund and Bankers, jointly collected Rs.7,95,000/- starting from 2013 (Rs.3,31,000/- from the defacto complainant and Rs.4,64,000/- from the daughter of the defacto complainant] offering 12% interest on assuring that M/S. S.N. Chitty Fund and Bankers obtained licence from Reserve Bank to run finance business after suppressing the fact that they had no licence to do financial business. Accordingly, the accused illegally collected the above said amount and they failed to give interest along with the principal amount as agreed and thereby committed breach of trust as well as cheating punishable under Sections 406 , 409 and 420 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code (' IPC ' for short hereinafter) and under Sections 3 read with 21(1)(2)(3) and 5 read with 23, and 25(1) of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act , 2019 (hereinafter referred to as 'BUDS Act).

3. In Crime No.907/2023, the prosecution allegation is that, the 1^st accused being the Managing Director and other accused, who are the Directors of M/s SN Chitty Fund and Bankers jointly collected Rs.9,00,000/- from the defacto complainant during the period from 01.01.2013 to 20.07.2023, in similar fashion. Accordingly, the accused illegally collected the above said amount and they failed to give interest along with the principal amount as agreed and thereby committed breach of trust as well as cheating punishable under Sections 406 , 409 and 420 read with 34 IPC and under Sections 3 read with 21(1)(2)(3) and 5 read with

23, and 25(1) of the BUDS Act.

4. In Crime No.596/2023, the prosecution allegation is that, the 1^st accused being the Managing Director and other accused, who are the Directors of M/s SN Chitty Fund and Bankers jointly collected Rs.50,000/- from the defacto complainant during 2018 and Rs.2,40,000/- on 02.11.2020 amounting to total sum of Rs.2,90,000/-, in similar fashion. Accordingly, the accused illegally collected the above said amount and they failed to give interest along with the principal amount as agreed and thereby committed breach of trust as well as cheating punishable under Sections 406 , 409 and 420 read with 34 IPC and under Sections 3 read with

21(1)(2)(3) and 5 read with 23, and 25(1) of the BUDS Act. 5. In Crime No.336/2023, the prosecution allegation is that the 1^st accused being the Managing Director and the other accused who are the Directors of M/S. S.N. Chitty Fund and Bankers offered 18% interest (Rs.1,500/- per month for Rs.1 lakh) and on the said offer jointly collected Rs.7 lakhs (Rs.4 lakh from the husband and Rs.3 lakh from the wife) in between 26.05.2019 to 17.06.2019 on assuring them that M/S. S.N. Chitty Fund and Bankers obtained licence from Reserve Bank to run finance business after suppressing the fact that they had no license to do financial business. Accordingly, the accused illegally collected the above said amount and they failed to give interest along with the principal amount as agreed and thereby committed breach of trust as well as cheating punishable under Sections 406 , 409 and 420 read with 34 IPC and under Sections 3 r/w 21(2), (3), 5 r/w 23, 25(1) of the BUDS Act.

6. In Crime No.271/2023, the prosecution allegation is that, the 1^st accused being the Managi