Abhijit Bagdi @ Avijit Bagdi Vs State of West Bengal — Cheating and Forgery | Calcutta HC (2025)

Abhijit Bagdi @ Avijit Bagdi Vs State of West Bengal — Cheating and Forgery | Calcutta HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Release of the petitioner on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one of whom must be local), to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Purba Bardhaman, subject to the conditions that he shall appear before the trial Court on every date of hearing and shall not intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence; the trial Court is at liberty to cancel the bail in accordance with law if he fails to appear without justifiable cause, without further reference to this Court.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, charged in Ausgram P.S. Case No. 257 of 2024 under Sections 420/409 IPC, should be released on bail under Section 483 of the BNSS, 2023 notwithstanding the State's opposition.

Court's answer

On consideration of the material on record and the period of detention, further detention of the petitioner is not required for the purpose of custodial interrogation, and the petitioner may be released on bail on stringent conditions.

Ratio / Principle

The prayer for bail is allowed.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bail application under Section 483 of the BNSS, 2023 (C.R.M. (DB) 372 of 2025) in connection with Ausgram P.S. Case No. 257 of 2024 dated 08.08.2024 under Sections 420/409 of IPC. The petitioner, described as a field assistant of Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. (a private concern), had been in custody for 181 days and the charge sheet had been submitted. Holding further detention unnecessary for custodial interrogation, the Court (Suvra Ghosh, J.) allowed the prayer for bail: release upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one local), to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Purba Bardhaman, conditioned on attendance before the trial Court on every hearing date and abstention from intimidating witnesses or tampering with evidence, with liberty to the trial Court to cancel bail for unexplained absence. State counsel had opposed bail, alleging the petitioner collected over Rs.11 lakhs from several persons without depositing the sums with his employer; counsel for the petitioner had contended that Section 409 IPC was not attracted as the company was not a government concern. Case diary ordered returned.

18 02.04.2025 Ct.No.34 b.das Allowed

C.R.M. (DB) 372 of 2025

In Re : An application for bail under Section 483 of the BNSS, 2023 filed in connection with Ausgram P.S. Case No. 257 of 2024 dated 08.08.2024 under Sections 420/409 of IPC.

And In Re : Abhijit Bagdi @ Avijit Bagdi ... Petitioner.

Mr. Uday Sankar Chattopadhyay Ms. T. Rakshit Ms. Rajashree Tah Ms. A. Dutta Ms. B. Chakraborty Mr. A. Bhattacharya ... for the Petitioner. Mr. Rudradipta Nandy Mr. R. Mukherjee ... For the State.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is in custody for 181 days. Charge sheet has been submitted.

The petitioner is a field assistant of Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. which is not a government concern and does not deal with government money. Provision under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code is not attracted against the petitioner. Further detention of the petitioner is not required.

Learned counsel for the State opposes the prayer and submits that the petitioner has collected money from several persons to the tune of Rs.11 lakhs and more and has failed

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to deposit the same with the company. Sufficient material has transpired against him during investigation.

It appears that charge sheet has been submitted. Upon consideration of the material available on record as well as period of detention of the petitioner, this Court is of the view that further detention of the petitioner is not required for the purpose of custodial interrogation. The petitioner may be released on bail on stringent conditions.

The prayer for bail is allowed.

The petitioner, Abhijit Bagdi @ Avijit Bagdi be released on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only), with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Purba Bardhaman subject to condition that the petitioner shall appear before the learned trial Court on every date of hearing fixed by the learned trial Court and shall not intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever.

If the petitioner fails to appear before the learned trial Court on any date fixed before it without justifiable cause, the learned trial Court shall be at liberty to cancel the bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court.

The application for bail, being CRM (DB) 372 of 2025, is, thus, disposed of.

Case Diary be returned.

All parties shall act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court.

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Urgent certified website copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Suvra Ghosh, J.)