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2026 Supreme(Online)(Ker) 31335
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
Kauser Edappagath, J
Allamraju Sathyanarayan Murthy – Appellant
Versus
State of Kerala – Respondent
Bail Appl. No. 2822 of 2026
For the Appellants/Petitioners: P. Vijayabhanu, B.Mohanlal, P.S.Preetha, Karthik J Sekhar, Motty Jiby Vasudevan, Abijith M., Avani Nair, Jayaprabha Arjun, Praveena T.
For the Respondents: M.C. Ashi
The court grant bail after determining that further custodial detention is unnecessary for investigation purposes when the accused has been interrogated, investigation is advanced, and parity is observed with co-accused who are already on bail.
Headnote:The application was filed under S.483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking regular bail in connection with an alleged cyber fraud involving significant monetary loss through an investment scheme. The court considered the duration of incarceration, the status of the investigation, and the fact that co-accused had already been granted bail. The court framed the issue regarding whether further custodial detention was necessary for the investigation. The ratio decidendi emphasized that since the investigation had reached an advanced stage and the accused had been subjected to thorough interrogation, continued detention was not warranted, leading to a grant of bail subject to stringent conditions. The application is allowed.
| Table of Content |
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| 1. nature of the application and alleged offences. (Para 1 , 2 , 3) |
| 2. court's discretion in granting regular bail based on investigation status. (Para 4 , 5 , 6) |
ORDER
This application is filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, BNSS), seeking regular bail.
2. The applicant is the accused No.9 in Crime No.34/2025 of Cyber Crime Police Station, Ernakulam District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 316 (2), 318 (4) and 111 read with Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the accused persons, through phone calls and chatting with the de facto complainant from the Telegram account named @Capitalix_bot, made the de facto complainant believe that he would get high profit if trading was done through the website www.capitalix.com. Believing the accused, the defacto complainant, during the period from 15.03.2023 to 29.08.2025, transferred an amount of 24,76,21,042/- to different bank accounts. After receiving the money, the accused neither paid the promised profit nor returned the amount and thereby committed the offences.
4. I have heard Sri. P. Vijayabhanu, the learned Senior 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 present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicant with the alleged crime; hence, he is entitled to bail. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicant, and he is not entitled to bail at this stage.
6. The applicant was remanded to judicial custody on 2.5.2026. The applicant was arrayed as an accused on the basis of the confession statement of the other accused. Admittedly, the applicant did not directly collect any amount. He was given into police custody and thoroughly interrogated. Accused Nos.2 to 5 and 7 were already granted bail. The investigation has reached an advance stage. For these reasons, I do not find any reason to hold that the continued detention of the applicant is required for any purpose. Hence, the applicant is entitled to be released on bail.
In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions: -
(i) The applicant shall be released on bail 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 jurisdictional Magistrate/Court.
(ii) The applicant shall fully co-operate with the investigation.
(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 the bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.
