Accused granted bail due to lack of substantial evidence and prolonged judicial custody.

O R D E R

These applications are filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023 seeking regular bail.

2. The applicant is accused No.1 in Crime Nos. 544/2025, 753/2025, and 1159/2025, and accused No.2 in Crime Nos. 205/2025, 213/2025, and 284/2025 of Kalamassery Police Station, Ernakulam. The offences alleged against the applicant in all the bail applications are punishable under Sections 406 and 420 r/w Section 3 4 of the Indian Penal Code , 1860 (under Sections 3 16 (2) and 318(4) r/w Section 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita , 2023). The allegations in all these bail applications are similar.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the applicant, along with the other accused, induced the de facto complainants to part with money by offering job visas for Hungary and Netherlands and thereafter cheated them by neither arranging the job visas nor returning the money.

4. I have heard Sri.Basil Mathew, the learned counsel for the applicant and Smt.M.K.Pushpalatha and Smt.M.A. Maya, the learned Public Prosecutors. 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. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicant, and he is not entitled to bail at this stage.

6. The applicant was arrested on 19.10.2025 and has been in judicial custody since then. More than fifty days have now elapsed. The investigation is almost complete. The applicant has no other criminal antecedents apart from the above cases. For all these reasons, I do not find any reason to hold that the continued detention of the applicant is required for any purpose. Hence, the applicant is entitled to be released on bail. In the result, these applications are allowed on the following conditions: -

(i) The applicant 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 shall fully co-operate with the investigation.

(iii) The applicant shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m. on 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 the bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.