Manabendra Ghosh Vs State of West Bengal — Anticipatory Bail | Calcutta HC (2025)

Manabendra Ghosh Vs State of West Bengal — Anticipatory Bail | Calcutta HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Anticipatory bail granted: in the event of arrest, the petitioner is to be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one local), to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer, subject to the conditions under Section 438 CrPC / Section 482 BNSS and further conditions of cooperation with investigation, non-intimidation of witnesses, non-tampering with evidence, and meeting the Investigating Officer once a fortnight till submission of the final report.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, Manabendra Ghosh, is entitled to anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (corresponding to Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023) in connection with Khayrasole PS Case No.120/25. +1 more

Court's answer

In the event of arrest, the petitioner is to be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one of whom must be local), to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer, subject to the conditions under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure corresponding to Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and on further conditions that the petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation, shall not threaten or intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence, and shall meet the Investigating Officer once a fortnight till submission of the report in final form.

Ratio / Principle

Having considered the materials available in the case diary and the alleged role ascribed to the present petitioner, the court did not think that custodial interrogation of the petitioner was required.

Key takeaways

The court was inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the present petitioner.ratio¶14

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (corresponding to Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023) allowed in favour of Manabendra Ghosh, owner of the car allegedly used in the abduction of the de facto complainant's husband (Khayrasole PS Case No.120/25 dated June 20, 2025, under Sections 140(2)/304(2)/111 with added Section 317(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023). The petitioner had given a power of attorney to the driver/accused to run the car on hire and was made an accused only after approaching the Court praying for release of the car; the police report admits the power of attorney is genuine. Held: considering the case diary materials and the alleged role ascribed to the petitioner, custodial interrogation was not required; in the event of arrest he is to be released on bail on a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one local), to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer, subject to the Section 438/Section 482 conditions and further conditions of cooperating with the investigation, not threatening or intimidating witnesses or tampering with evidence, and meeting the Investigating Officer once a fortnight till submission of the report in final form. Application disposed of. (Jay Sengupta, J.)

06.11.2025 Sl. No.09 Ct. 28 NB

CRM (A) 2893 of 2025

In Re:- An application for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 corresponding to Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with Khayrasole PS Case No.120/25 dated June 20, 2025 under Sections 140(2)/304(2)/111 with added Section 317(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

And

In the matter of: Manabendra Ghosh … petitioner

Mr. Kunal Ganguly …for the petitioner.

Mr. Sandip Chakraborty, Mr. Debanshu Ghorai. …for the State.

Report filed on behalf of the State is taken on record.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner

submits as follows. The petitioner is the owner of the car in question. He had given a power of attorney to the driver/accused to run the car on hire. Subsequently, it was learnt that the de facto complainant’s husband was abducted. He was released within an hour. A case was started and some accused were arrested. Allegedly, the car was used in such operation. It was only after the petitioner had approached the Court praying for release of the car that he has been made an accused in this case.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail. However, he admits that according to the police report, the power of attorney is genuine.

Considering the materials available in the case diary and the alleged role ascribed to the present petitioner, I do not think that

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custodial interrogation of the petitioner is required in this case and I am inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the present petitioner.

Accordingly, in the event of arrest, the petitioner shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of Arresting Officer and subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, corresponding to Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and on further condition that the petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation and shall not threaten or intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever and the petitioner shall meet the Investigating Officer once a fortnight till submission of report in final form.

The application for anticipatory bail is, thus, disposed of.

Urgent photostat certified copies of this order may be delivered to the learned Advocates for the parties, if applied for, upon compliance of all formalities.

(Jay Sengupta, J.)