The court established that the absence of serious evidence against an accused can warrant the granting of pre-arrest bail, especially in the presence of cooperation with ongoing investigations.

ORDER

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

2. The applicant is the accused No.8 in Crime No.474/2024 of Valapattanam Police Station, Kannur District. The offence alleged is punishable under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code .

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that accused Nos.1 to 11, the officials and accused Nos.12 and 3, the collection agents of Athazhakunnu Merchant Welfare Society situated at Athazhakunnu, conducted a chitty by name Sahayanidhi Scheme. They approached the defacto complainant and offered Rs.47,500/- on deposit of Rs.1250/- per month for forty months. Accordingly, from 04.11.2019 onwards, the defacto complainant made deposit in her name and children and made a total deposit of Rs.3,41,500/-. But, the accused have not paid the amount offered and thereby committed the above offence.

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

6. The applicant is only an office bearer of Athazhakunnu Merchant Welfare Society, which conducted the chitty. Admittedly, the applicant did not receive any money from the defacto complainant. The applicant does not have any criminal antecedents. Considering the allegations made against the applicant, his 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, 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 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 conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.

Sd/-