The court granted pre-arrest bail by determining insufficient evidence linking the applicant to the alleged crime.

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 accused No.2 in Crime No.1080/2025 of Adimaly Police Station, Idukki District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 316 (2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita , 2023.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the defacto complainant and his wife have purchased a property at Perumbavoor for the purpose of constructing a house. It is alleged that on 24.10.2024, accused No.1 and the defacto complainant entered into an agreement for constructing the house on the property purchased by the defacto complainant for an amount of Rs.41,00,000/- on the condition that the construction work will be completed within a period of 8 months. It is further alleged that the accused No.1 had received an advance amount of Rs.19,27,000/- on various occasions and did not complete the work in time and he issued a cheque for Rs.4,10,000/- which was dishonoured. The applicant, who is the father of the accused No.1, promised the defacto complainant through telephone that the work would be completed within the fixed time but did not complete it, cheated the defacto complainant and thereby committed the aforesaid offences.

4. I have heard Sri.S.Rajeev, the learned counsel for the applicant, Sri.M.C.Ashi, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor and Sri.A.Muhammed Hashim, the learned counsel for the defacto complainant. 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 as well as the learned counsel for the defacto complainant, 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. I went through the FIS. There is absolutely no allegation against the applicant, who is the father of accused No.1, in the FIS. Admittedly, the agreement for construction has been entered into between the accused No.1 and the defacto complainant. The applicant has not received any money either. 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/modifi