Chandrasekhar Jha and Anr. Vs State of West Bengal — Anticipatory Bail | Calcutta HC (2026)

Chandrasekhar Jha and Anr. Vs State of West Bengal — Anticipatory Bail | Calcutta HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Anticipatory bail granted to Chandrasekhar Jha and Ramesh Jana: in the event of arrest, release upon bond of Rs.20,000/- each with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- each (one local), subject to Section 438(2) Cr.P.C./Section 482(2) BNSS conditions; petitioners to meet the investigating officer once every ten days till submission of the Report in Final Form/charge-sheet.

Issue for consideration

Whether the prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioners should be allowed in connection with Narayanpur PS Case No. 174 of 2026, given the State's allegation that the petitioners are in the habit of depriving flat purchasers. +1 more

Court's answer

The prayer for anticipatory bail was allowed: in the event of arrest, petitioners Chandrasekhar Jha and Ramesh Jana were directed to be released on a bond of Rs.20,000/- each, with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- each (one of whom must be local), to the satisfaction of the arresting officer and subject to the conditions under Section 438(2) Cr.P.C. and/or Section 482(2) BNSS.

Ratio / Principle

Taking into account the nature of the accusations, and while expressly restraining himself from commenting on whether any substantive case has been made out, the Court held that no case had been made out for custodial detention of the petitioners.

Key takeaways

Since the investigation was still in progress, the petitioners were directed to meet the investigating officer once every ten days until the Report in Final Form/charge-sheet is submitted before the learned jurisdictional court.ratio¶18

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Anticipatory bail (S.482 BNSS 2023 / S.438 Cr.P.C.) — CRM (A) 1798 of 2026 — Chandrasekhar Jha & Ramesh Jana — Narayanpur PS Case No. 174 of 2026 dated 31.05.2026 u/s 316(2)/318(4)/351(2)/61(2) BNS, GR Case No. 3824 of 2026 — charges stated by counsel to carry imprisonment below seven years; State alleged the petitioners were in the habit of depriving flat purchasers — Court, while expressly declining to comment on the merits, held no case was made out for custodial detention and ALLOWED anticipatory bail on a bond of Rs.20,000/- each with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- each (one local), subject to S.438(2) Cr.P.C. and/or S.482(2) BNSS conditions, directing the petitioners to meet the investigating officer once every ten days till submission of the final report/charge-sheet. (Tirthankar Ghosh, J.)

20.07.2026

Serial no. 937 [G.S.D]

CRM (A) 1798 of 2026

In re : An Application under Section 482 of the BNSS, 2023/under Section 438 of the Cr.P.C. in connection with Narayanpur PS Case No. 174 of 2026 dated 31.05.2026 u/s 316(2)/318(4)/351(2)/61(2) of the BNS, GR Case No. 3824 of 2026.

-And-

In the matter of : Chandrasekhar Jha &Anr.

… Petitioner(s)

Mr. Sourav Chatterjee, Sr Adv. Mr. Pawan Kr. Gupta Mr. Sourav Kr. Mukherjee Mr. Kauyshik Choudhury Mr. Niladri Sekhar Ghosh Ms. Sofia Nesar Mr. Aditya Kumar Mr. Santanu Sett … for the petitioner(s) Mr. Somnath Bera … for the State-respondent(s)

Learned Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioners submits that the case against the present petitioners relate to charges which are below seven years. Learned advocate emphasizes that the petitioners are ready and willing to cooperate with the defacto-complainant.

However, so far as the criminal act is concerned, the merits of the case do not warrant continuation of such proceeding.

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Learned advocate for the State opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail and submits that the petitioners are in the habit of depriving the flat purchasers. To that effect, learned advocate has drawn the attention of the court to the statement of another witness – a co-flat purchaser in the same building.

I have taken into account the nature of the accusations and, although, I restrain myself from commenting as to whether any case has been made out or not, I am of the view that no case has been made out for custodial detention of the present petitioners.

Hence, the prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioners is Allowed.

Accordingly, I direct that in the event of arrest, the petitioners [ Chandrasekhar Jha & Ramesh Jana ] be released on anticipatory bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.20,000/-(Rupees Twenty Thousand only) each, with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only) each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the arresting officer of the case and also subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C. and/or under Section 482(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

As the investigation of the case is still in progress, the petitioners shall meet with the investigating officer of

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the case once in every ten days till the Report in Final Form/ charge-sheet is submitted before the learned jurisdictional court.

Accordingly, CRM (A) 1798 of 2026 is disposed of .

Parties to act on a server copy of this order duly collected from the official website of the Hon’ble High Court, Calcutta.

(Tirthankar Ghosh, J.)