Allowed

Madhav Sheshrao Gitte v. State of Maharashtra

Bombay HC15 Sept 2022BA/1070/2022

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The Single Judge granted bail to five applicants accused of question paper leakage and cheating in army recruitment exams. The court noted that related offences for the same incident violated CrPC provisions and that co-accused were already released. Bail was ordered on a personal bond of Rs. 25,000.

What did the court decide?

Release on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 25,000 with one or more sureties in like amount for both Crime No. 83 of 2021 and Crime No. 54 of 2021.

Madhav Sheshrao Gitte Vs State of Maharashtra — Anticipatory Bail | Bombay HC (2022)

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(57)-BA-1070-22 & group matters.doc . Corrected as per order dated 11/10/2022 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BHARATDASHARATH CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION PANDIT

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Digitally signed byBHARAT DASHARATH PANDITDate: 2022.10.12 CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.1070 OF 2022 13:51:51 +0530 Madhav Sheshrao Gitte ..Applicant Versus State of Maharashtra ..Respondent WITH CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.1071 OF 2022 Ali Akhtar Abdul Ali Khan ..Applicant Versus State of Maharashtra ..Respondent WITH CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.1072 OF 2022 Azad Lal Mahommad Khan ..Applicant Versus State of Maharashtra ..Respondent WITH CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.1069 OF 2022 Uday Dattu Auti ..Applicant Versus State of Maharashtra ..Respondent WITH CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.2448 OF 2022 Gopal Yuvraj Koli ..Applicant Versus State of Maharashtra ..Respondent BGP. 1 o f 5

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(57)-BA-1070-22 & group matters.doc . Corrected as per order dated 11/10/2022

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Mr. Sudatta J. Patil a/w Vikramsingh Parmar, for the Applicant in all Applications.

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Ms. P. N. Dabholkar, APP for the Respondent/State. Mr. Narayan Shirgaonkar, ACP, Crime Branch, Pune – present.

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CORAM : NITIN W. SAMBRE, J.

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DATE : 15^th SEPTEMBER, 2022

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P.C.

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Applicants in BA/1069/2022, BA/1070/2022 and BA/2248/2022 and in BA/1071/2022 and BA/1072/2022 are seeking regular bail in Crime No. 83 of 2021 registered with Wanawadi Police Station and in Crime No.54 of 2021 registered with Vishrantwadi Police Station respectively for the offence punishable under Sections 420, 406, 120B, r/w 34 of IPC, Sections 6 and 7 of Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices At University, Board and Other Specified Examinations Act, 1982, Sections 7, 12, 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 66(c) of Information Technology Act.

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The attributions against the applicants in the prosecution story are, upon receiving secret inputs in relation to leakage of the question papers of written examination in relation to army recruitment, raid was carried out during which hand written examination papers, the printed PDF form on whatsapp of said question papers were recovered from the accused Kishor Mahadev Giri who was apprehended on 1^st March, 2021. The said accused

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BGP. 2 o f 5

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(57)-BA-1070-22 & group matters.doc . Corrected as per order dated 11/10/2022

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distributed the said question paper to various persons for illegal gratification. Applicant/Madhav Sheshrao Gitte is alleged to be companion of said Kishor Mahadev Giri through whose mobile the leaked question paper was put in further circulation. As far as the applicant in Bail Application No.1069 of 2022 - Mr. Uday Dattu Auti, another applicant - Gopal Yuvraj Koli, co-accused in Bail Application No.2448 of 2022 are shown to be accomplice of Madhav Sheshrao Gitte in the matter of leakage of examination paper. As far as applicants Ali Akhtar Abdul Ali Khan and Azad Lal Mahommad Khan who are applicants in Bail Application Nos.1071 of 2022 and 1072 of 2022, the allegations are that they have illegally sourced the question paper and circulated the same for considerations and were successfully trapped.

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All these five accused after their apprehension were subjected to custodial interrogation and are charge-sheeted.

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Apart from the claim that investigation against the applicants is already over, it is urged that other similarly accused persons, namely Thiru Murugan Thangvelu, Vasant Vijay Kilari, Veera Prasad Kotiswami Narnepati, Kishor Mahadev Giri and Mahindra Chandrabhan Sonawane are already released in other similarly placed crimes being Crime No.83 of 2021. It is also claimed that Mahindra Chandrabhan Sonawane who is similarly placed in crime i.e. Crime No.54 of 2021 is also released vide order dated 31^st January, 2022 passed in Criminal Bail Application

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BGP. 3 o f 5

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(57)-BA-1070-22 & group matters.doc . Corrected as per order dated 11/10/2022

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No.3305 of 2021. It appears that in relation to the leakage of question papers of army recruitment exam, two offences are registered viz. present one i.e. Crime No.54 of 2021 and Crime No.83 of 2021.

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In the offence being Crime No.83 of 2021, accused persons Kishor Mahadev Giri, Vasant Vijay Kilari, Bharat Adakmol and Thiru Murugan Thangvelu are the main conspirators who are already ordered to be released by this Court. The same persons are the main accused in the present offence also. If this Court appreciates the provisions of Section 300 of the CrPC, what can be noticed is, second offence came to be registered which is contrary to the said provisions which provides for person once convicted or acquitted not to be tried for the same offence.

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The fact remains that both these offences are arising out of the incident of question paper being leaked by the accused persons which was in relation to the army recruitment exam. As such, case of all these applicants, in my opinion, can be considered to be at par with the co-accused Mahindra Sonawane who was already ordered to be released so also other co-accused.

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The co-accused Thiru Murugan Thangvelu and Vasant Vijay Kilari were the ex-servicemen. The applicants do not appear to be main source of the leaked question papers, as they have received it under circulation, however, illegally traded for the same.

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BGP. 4 o f 5

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(57)-BA-1070-22 & group matters.doc . Corrected as per order dated 11/10/2022

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The investigation in the matter is already over, as each of them are charge-sheeted.

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Apart from above, the incriminating material is already shown to have been seized in the offence. That being so, in my opinion, case for grant of bail in all these matters is made out.

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Applicants are directed to be released on bail in Crime No. 83 of 2021 registered with Wanawadi Police Station and in Crime No.54 of 2021 registered with Vishrantwadi Police Station respectively on furnishing PR bond of Rs.25,000/- each with one or more sureties in the like amount.

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Applicants shall attend the trial regularly as undertaken before this Court.

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Applicants shall neither influence the witnesses in any manner nor tamper with the evidence.

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The applications as such stand disposed of.

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[NITIN W. SAMBRE, J.]

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5 o f 5

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BGP.

Madhav Sheshrao Gitte v. State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Madhav Sheshrao Gitte v. State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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