The Court determined that custodial interrogation was unnecessary and granted bail with specific conditions based on the applicant's claims of innocence and evidentiary concerns.

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.2 in Crime No.157/2024 of Binanipuram Police Station, Ernakulam District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections

406 and 420 read with Section 34 of the IPC.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the applicant and accused Nos. 1, 3 and 4, in order to have wrongful gain to them and cause wrongful loss to 17 persons, promised them that accused No.1 has got license to recruit for employment in Norway and received an amount of Rs.76,11,500/- from 17 persons and out of the said amount, she has transferred Rs.64,21,850/- to the account of accused No.1 in Aluva Union Bank and balance is kept by the applicant. The accused has neither provided visa nor returned the amount to these persons and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Sri.V.A.Hakeem, 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 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. This is a case where the applicant herein initially filed a private complaint against accused Nos.1, 3 and 4 pertaining to the same subject matter and later on during investigation, he turned out to be an accused. He has admitted that he received a total sum of Rs.76,11,500/- from 17 persons for the purpose of arranging visas to Norway. According to him, it was the accused No.1, who undertook to provide visas for the 17 persons and he acted only as a middleman. However, the version of the victim is that because of the assurance of the applicant that visas would be provided, they parted with the money. At any rate, the fact remains that, out of Rs.76,11,500/- collected by the applicant, he had already handed over Rs.64,21,850/- to accused No.1. According to him, he retained the balance amount of Rs.11,89,650/- being the flight charges. Thus, the main allegation is against accused No.1. 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 appl