THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREENIVAS RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No. 9651 of 2025

ORDER

This Criminal Petition has been filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) by the petitioner/accused No.1 seeking anticipatory bail in the event of his arrest in Crime No.221 of 2025 of Inthezargunj Town Police Station, Warangal District, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 318(4), 316(5) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS).

2. The case of prosecution in brief is that on 04.06.2025 hours, the de facto complainant lodged a complaint stating that his head office had deputed Mr. Y. Sanjeeva Reddy, Assistant General Manager, for conducting surprise verification of gold ornaments pledged with the Branch and after verifying the purity of gold along with weight pledged with the branch on 23.05.2025. Out of 166 gold bags, the loan account Nos.1777, 1821 and 1822 belong to accused No.7 to 9, sanctioned by the petitioner found that some gold items pledged by them are spurious gold/fake gold, thereby the Bank sustained loss to a tune of Rs.43.50 lakhs. At the time of sanction of above gold loans, the gold loan appraisers are accused Nos.4 and 5. All the spurious gold/fake gold items were sealed along with all the loan documents and kept in branch custody. Hence, the complaint.

3. Heard Mr. K. Rama Subba Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Mr. Syed Yasar Mamoon, learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondent State.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner has not committed any offence, much less the alleged offences and he was falsely implicated in the present crime only on the ground that the petitioner is the Manager of the Andhra Pradesh Mahesh Co-operative Urban Bank Limited (for short, ‘the Bank’). Even according to the allegations made in the complaint, accused Nos.7 to 9 have availed gold loan from the Bank by pledging gold ornaments and the said gold ornaments were verified by accused Nos.4 and 5, who are authorized gold appraisers appointed by the Bank, and the said Appraisers’ report was placed before accused Nos.2 and 3, who are the competent authorities, to process the application of accused Nos.7 to 9. There is no role of the petitioner insofar as the verification of the gold ornaments which are pledged by accused Nos.7 to 9. After certifying that the gold ornament is genuine by accused Nos.4 and 5, accused Nos.2 and 3 forwarded the same to the petitioner, who in turn approved the same as a Manager of the Bank and there is no specific allegation against the petitioner that he committed the offence. Hence, the ingredients under Section 316(5) of the BNS are not attracted against the petitioner and the punishment for the other offences is up to seven years. He further submitted that except the petitioner and accused Nos.7 to 9, other accused were arrested and entire material part of the investigation is completed except filing of the charge sheet. He further submitted that the police seized the gold and other documents and the question of tampering the evidence or influence the witnesses by the petitioner does not arise. He further submitted that the petitioner was suspended from the service and now he is not attending the official duties as a Manager of the Bank. The petitioner is not having any criminal antecedents and he is ready and willing to cooperate with the investigation and also abide by the conditions, which are going to be imposed by this Court. Hence, the petitioner may be granted anticipatory bail.

5. Per contra, learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that the petitioner has committed a grave offence. There is specific allegation levelled against the petitioner that at the instance of the petitioner, the other accused have committed the offence. There is a clear conspiracy between the petitioner and other accused and the petitioner along with accused Nos.2 to 5 sanctioned a huge amount of Rs.43.50 lak