The court can grant pre-arrest bail where no substantial evidence connects the accused to the crime, considering the lack of prior offenses and the necessity of custodial interrogation.

O R D E R

This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023 seeking pre-arrest bail.

2. The applicant is the accused No.3 in Crime No.532 of

2025 of Gandhinagar Police Station, Kottayam. The offences alleged are punishable under Section 3 08 (2) read with (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita , 2023 ( BNS ).

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the defacto complainant is staying near to the house of accused Nos.1 and 2 at Ammancheri and while so, the accused No.1 befriended with the defacto complainant and managed to obtain nude photographs of the defacto complainant and thereafter, with the help of accused Nos.2 and 3, threatened the defacto complainant that they would send his photographs to his relatives and in that way, the accused extorted a total sum of Rs.60,00,000/- and also obtained 61 sovereigns of gold ornaments and thereby committed the offence.

4. I have heard Sri.Ananthakrishnan A. Kartha, the learned counsel for the applicant and Smt.M.K.Pushpalatha, the learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

5. The learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicant with the alleged crime; hence, he is entitled to get bail. The learned Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicant, and if he is released on bail at this stage, it will affect the course of the investigation.

6. Annexure I FIR was registered pursuant to Annexure II complaint dated 23.03.2025. I went through Annexure II complaint. There is absolutely no allegation against the applicant. All the allegations are against the 1^st accused, who is the wife of the applicant and the 2^nd accused, who is the friend of the 1^st accused. The only allegation is Annexure II against the applicant is that the defacto complainant suspects that the applicant is also involved in the deal. In Annexure III FIS, which is an empowered version of Annexure II complaint also, there is no specific allegation against the applicant. There is a stray sentence that the entire criminal act was done by the 1^st and the 2^nd accused in collusion with the applicant. The applicant does not have any criminal antecedents. Considering the allegations levelled against the applicant, his custodial interrogation does not appear to be necessary. For these reasons, it is a fit case where pre-arrest bail can be granted to the applicant.

In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) The applicant shall be released on bail in the event of his arrest 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 arresting officer/investigating officer, as the case may be.

(ii) The applicant shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting himself to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as well as for undergoing potency test, as and when demanded.

(iii) The applicant 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 shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.

(v) The applicant 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 shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of bail condi