Serious allegations necessitate custodial interrogation, impacting the court's decision on pre-arrest bail.

ORDER

This is an application seeking pre-arrest bail filed under Section

438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 .

2. Petitioner is the 2nd accused in Crime No.385/2022 of Mankara Police Station, Palakkad District. The offences alleged against the petitioner are under Sections 468 , 471, 511 of 420 r/w Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 .

3. According to the prosecution, accussed 1 to 4 in furtherance of their common intention to cheat the Kerala State Financial Enterprises submitted forged documents in an attempt to induce the KSFE to release the prize amount of the chitty with a sala of Rs.1,00,000/-

subscribed by the first accused and thereby committed the offences.

4. Sri.Sudheer G. learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the entire prosecution allegations are false and that the petitioner had no role at all in the incident as alleged. It was further submitted that, even according to the prosecution, petitioner had only handed over the documents, which were given by accused 3 and 4 and therefore, the role attributed to the petitioner is minimal. It was also submitted that petitioner is willing to abide by any conditions for the purpose of the proper investigation.

5. Sri.K.A.Noushad , learned Public Prosecutor opposed the grant of bail and contended that the allegations being serious in nature, custodial interrogation is necessary.

6. I have perused the records.

7. The allegations against the accused are serious in nature and the petitioner is alleged to have submitted forged documents for the purpose of releasing the Chitty amounts to the 1st accused. The truth of the allegations can be unraveled only through custodial interrogation and I am of the view that in the absence of such interrogation, an effective investigation, will not be able to be carried out. Accordingly, I dismiss this bail application.

8. However, If the petitioner surrenders before the Investigating OfÏcer, within 10 days from today, he shall be subjected to interrogation and thereafter, if the Investigating OfÏcer proposes to arrest him, he shall be produced before the jurisdictional court without further delay. Thereafter, if any application for bail is filed by the petitioner before the said court, the same shall be considered without undue delay, and in accordance with law.

BECHU KURIAN THOMAS JUDGE jm/

APPENDIX OF BAIL APPL. 7331/2022 PETITIONER ANNEXURES Annexure 1 A TRUE COPY OF THE STATEMENT DATED 17.08.2022 SUBMITTED BEFORE THE SUB INSPECTOR OF POLICE KOTTAYI POLICE STATION Annexure 2 A COPY OF THE FIR IN MANKARA POLICE STATION CRIME NO.385/2022 OBTAINED FROM THE INTERNET Annexure 3 A TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 02.09.2022 IN CRL.M.C.NO.2855 OF 2022 ON THE FILE OF COURT OF SESSION, PALAKKAD DIVISION