Insufficient evidence for custodial interrogation grants bail under specific conditions.

ORDER

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

2. The applicants are the accused Nos.4 to 7 in Crime No.421/2025 of Vadakkancherry Police Station, Palakkad District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 4 06 and 420 read with Section 3 4 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘ IPC ’) and Section 3 read with Section 21 , Section 4 read with Section 22 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 and Directors of the financial institution by name Finspot India Nidhi Limited, having its branch office at Vadakkencherry, received a total amount of Rs.15,50,000/- from the defacto complainant and his family as fixed deposit promising to return it with interest but the principal amount or the interest was not paid, thereby committed the aforesaid offences.

4. I have heard the learned counsel for the applicants and the learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

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

6. The applicants are the Managing Director and the Directors of the company. The applicants directly did not receive any money from the customers. The investigation of the case is almost over. Considering the allegations made against the applicants, their custodial interrogation seems unnecessary. For these reasons, I find this to be an appropriate case to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicants.

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

(i) The applicants shall be released on bail in the event of their arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) each 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 applicants shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting themselves to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as and when demanded.

(iii) The applicants shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. every Saturday until further orders. They shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.

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

(v) The applicants 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 applicants 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 shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.

Sd/-

DR. KAUSER EDAPPAGATH JUDGE

SKP