The court upheld pre-arrest bail, establishing prima facie grounds for innocence and the necessity of justice without undue hindrance to investigation.

O R D E R

These applications are filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, BNSS ), seeking pre-arrest bail.

2. B.A. No.14518/2025 pertains to Crime No.882/2025 of Vadakkencherry Police Station, Palakkad District and the applicant is accused No.1 therein. B.A. No.14522/2025 pertains to Crime No.421/2025 and B.A. No.14526/2025 pertains to Crime No.1168/2025 of the aforementioned police station and the applicant is accused No.3 and accused No.2 respectively therein. The offences alleged against the applicant in all these cases are punishable under Section s 406 and 420 read with Section 3 4 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘ IPC ’) and Section 3 read with Section 21 and Section 5 read with Section 23 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019 (for short ‘BUDS Act’).

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the accused, being the Managing Director of the financial institution by name Finspot India Nidhi Limited, having its branch office at Vadakkencherry, received a total amount of Rs.1,13,65,000/- from the defacto complainants as fixed deposit promising to return it with interest but the principal amount or the interest was not paid, thereby commited the aforesaid offences.

4. I have heard the learned counsel for the applicant and 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 above crime. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicant with the alleged crime; hence, she is entitled to bail. The learned Public Prosecutors, on the other hand, submitted that the alleged incident occurred as part of the applicant's intentional criminal acts, and if she is released on bail at this stage, it will affect the course of the investigation.

6. The applicant is only the Director of the company. The records would show that the Managing Director, who is also an accused, is in charge of the affairs of the company. The applicant directly did not receive any money from the customers. The investigation of the case is almost over. Considering the allegations made against the applicant, her custodial interrogation seems unnecessary. For these reasons, I find this to be an appropriate case to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicant.

In the result, these applications are allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) The applicant shall be released on bail in the event of her arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) each in each case 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 herself to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, 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. She 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 conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions