An accused may be granted bail if the court finds that the overt act alleged against him/her is not serious in nature and that he/she has been in custody for a considerable period of time.

ORDER

Dated this the 30th day of November, 2023 This application is filed u/s 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail.

2. The applicants are accused Nos.1 & 5 in Crime No.1534/2023 of Perumbavoor Police Station, Ernakulam District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections

511 of 364-A and 395 of the Indian Penal Code.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that on

07/10/2023 at about 3.00 p.m., the applicants along with the remaining accused forcibly attempted to abduct the defacto complainant by taking him in a car and threatened him with the intention of extorting money. It is further alleged that the applicants and other accused obtained Rs.1 lakh from him and forcibly got executed a sale letter of Innova Car of the defacto complainant in favour of the accused No.1 and thereby committed the offence.

4. I have heard Sri.Suman Chakravarthy, the learned counsel for the applicants and Sri.M.C.Ashi, the learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

5. The learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicants with the alleged crime; hence, they are entitled to get bail. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicants, and they are not entitled to bail at this stage.

6. The applicants were remanded to judicial custody on 11/10/2023 and since then they are under judicial custody. Prima-facie there are materials on record to show the involvement of the applicants in the crime. However, the overt act alleged against the accused No.5/applicant No.2 herein is lesser in nature compared to the overt act alleged against the accused No.1/applicant No.1 herein. The sale letter of the Innova Car was forcibly got executed in favour of the accused No.1/applicant No.1 herein. Moreover, accused No.1/applicant No.1 herein is involved in a case under the NDPS act involving commercial quantity. Considering all the aspects, I am not inclined to grant bail to the accused No.1/applicant No.1 herein at present.

7. However, considering the fact that, accused No.5/

applicant No.2 herein is in custody since 11/10/2023 and that the overt act alleged against him is not that serious in nature, I am inclined to grant bail to the accused No.5/applicant No.2 herein. Hence, the applicant No.2 is entitled to be released on bail.

In the result, the application is allowed in part on the following conditions: - (i) The applicant No.2 shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Magistrate/Court.

(ii) The applicant No.2 shall fully co-operate with the investigation.

(iii) The applicant No.2 shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m. every Saturday until further orders. He shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.

(iv) The applicant No.2 shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.

(v) The applicant No.2 shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.

(vi) The applicant No.2 shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of the bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.

Bail as against accused No.1/applicant No.1 is rejected.