This High Court granted anticipatory bail to the petitioner, a dumper operator accused of signing forged bills in a cheating case involving misappropriation of funds, subject to surrender and bond conditions.
Petitioner directed to surrender within four weeks and release on bail bond of Rs. 10,000 with two sureties of like amount.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI A.B.A. No. 1934 of 2021
Bhuneshwar Kumar Singh … … Petitioner
Versus The Union of India through C.B.I. … … Opposite Party
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RONGON MUKHOPADHYAY Through- Video Conferencing
For the Petitioner : Mr. Nilesh Kumar, Advocate For the C.B.I : Mr. Bhupal Krishna Prasad, Advocate
02/03.12.2021 Heard Mr. Nilesh Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Bhupal Krishna Prasad, learned counsel appearing for the C.B.I.
Defects as pointed out by the office are ignored.
The prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioner was earlier rejected in A.B.A. No. 4805 of 2018. Subsequently the petitioner had again moved this Court in A.B.A. No. 5609 of 2020 which however was dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 18.01.2021.
It has been alleged that Sushil Kumar Agarwal, the then Area Finance Manager of Central Coalfield Limited along with two private firms namely M/s. Ashok Kumar Singh and proprietor of M/s. Verma Construction during the period 2015-2016 had committed an offence of cheating as they have manufactured forged bills and used them as genuine by execution of repair/replacement work at Bhurkunda Colliery of CCL and based on the said bills an amount of Rs. 72,03,436/- was withdrawn and misappropriated.
It has been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioner was earlier rejected primarily on account of the fact that investigation had not been completed. It has been submitted that on conclusion of investigation charge-sheet has been submitted and the petitioner is also an accused in the charge-sheet. Learned counsel adds that the main allegations have been levelled against Raj Kumar Verma, the proprietor of M/s. Verma Construction and Ashok Kumar Singh, the
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proprietor of M/s. Ashok Kumar Singh who have been granted anticipatory bail by this Court in A.B.A. No. 2473 of 2017 and A.B.A. No. 1932 of 2017 respectively. It has been submitted that the petitioner was merely a Dumper Operator who is alleged to have signed on some of the bogus bills and in view of the fact that the persons mainly responsible for the alleged defalcation having been granted anticipatory bail by this Court the petitioner also deserves to be granted anticipatory bail.
At this, Mr. Bhupal Krishna Prasad, learned counsel appearing for the C.B.I. has referred to the charge-sheet and has stated that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory has confirmed the signatures of the present petitioner, Ashok Kumar Singh and Prem Kumar Verma on the bogus bills and since the angle of conspiracy so far as the petitioner is concerned has been ascertained in course of investigation and based on scientific evidence the present anticipatory bail application of the petitioner deserves to be rejected.
The petitioner appears to have been merely used as a ruse and his role has been limited to signing some bogus bills deposited by the construction companies which led to defalcation of a huge amount of money from CCL. The persons primarily responsible as per the allegations i.e. Raj Kumar Verma and Ashok Kumar Singh have already been granted anticipatory bail by this Court as stated above. Moreover, charge-sheet has already been submitted against the petitioner and other accused persons.
On consideration of the aforesaid fact, I am inclined to extend the privilege of anticipatory bail to the petitioner. The petitioner accordingly is directed to surrender before the learned court below within a period of four weeks and on his surrender, he shall be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned A.J.C.-XVI-cum-Spl. Judge, CBI, Ranchi in connection with
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RC No. 05(A)/2016-R, subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This application stands allowed.
(R. Mukhopadhyay, J.)
Alok/-
1 issue framed by the court
Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner given the fraud investigation involves conspiracy but he claims a limited role.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Bhuneshwar Kumar Singh
The Union of India through C.B.I.
Rongon Mukhopadhyay
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
