The court emphasized that mere allegations without sufficient evidence against the applicant justify the granting of pre-arrest bail, with strict conditions.

O R D E R

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.4 in Crime No.28/2024 of Cyber Crime Police Station, Ernakulam District. The offences alleged are punishable under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 .

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the accused impersonated as agents of “Institutional Traders” through Facebook and induced the de facto complainant to invest in IPOs by promising high returns, thereby cheated him of an amount of Rs.39,80,000/- through multiple transactions and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Sri.Balram S.A., 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 main allegation is against accused No.1. The allegation against the applicant and the remaining accused is that they provided their bank account details, received money and abetted and facilitated the commission of the offences. It is revealed from the case records that a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- was credited to the account of the applicant kept in the Kerala Gramin Bank on 25.04.2024. However, Annexure-3 would show that on 30.05.2024, the applicant sent an e-mail to Kerala Gramin Bank, Edappal Branch, stating that an unauthorised transfer of Rs.1,00,000/- had been made to his account on 24.04.2024. The applicant has no 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/-

DR. KAUSER EDAPPAGATH, JUDGE

APA