Allowed

Arshad Zaman v. The State Of Bihar

Patna HC13 Feb 2013CR. MISC./19044/2013

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Single judge order granting anticipatory bail to four police officers posted as Dy.S.P.s and S.Is. pending conclusion of investigation in cases alleging their involvement in the death of an individual.

What did the court decide?

Released on anticipatory bail pending conclusion of investigation on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.10,000/- each with two sureties of like amount subject to conditions under Section 438(2) Cr.P.C.

Arshad Zaman Vs The State Of Bihar — Anticipatory Bail | Patna HC (2013)

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	IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Criminal Miscellaneous No.10175 of 2013 ======================================================
	Vishwajeet Dayal .... .... Petitioner/s Versus The State Of Bihar .... .... Opposite Party/s ======================================================
	With Criminal Miscellaneous No.12603 of 2013 ====================================================== Arjun Prasad .... .... Petitioner/s Versus
	The State Of Bihar .... .... Opposite Party/s ======================================================
	With Criminal Miscellaneous No.12767 of 2013 ======================================================
	Sidheshwar Kumar Dubey .... .... Petitioner/s Versus The State Of Bihar .... .... Opposite Party/s ======================================================
	With Criminal Miscellaneous No.19044 of 2013
	====================================================== Arshad Zaman .... .... Petitioner/s Versus The State Of Bihar .... .... Opposite Party/s ======================================================
	CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH KUMAR SINGH ORAL ORDER
07/	13-09-2013 Heard learned counsels for the petitioners, State
	and the brother of the victim.

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The petitioners being Dy.S.Ps. and S.Is. of police are apprehending their arrest in a case registered for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 149, 323 and 307 of

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the Indian Penal Code when subsequently section 302 of the

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IPC was also added.

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Petitioner Vishwajeet Dayal was posted as Dy.S.P., Special Task Force (hereinafter for STF) whereas petitioners Sidheshwar Kumar Dubey and Arjun Prasad were S.Is. in S.T.F. and petitioner Arshad Zaman was Dy.S.P. posted at Sachiwalaya Police Station at the relevant time.

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The factual matrix of the case is that on the written report of the petitioner Sidheshwar Kumar Dubey the then SubInspector of S.T.F. Kotwali P.S. Case No. 503 of 2003 was registered on 08.11.2003 at 9.10 P.M. to the effect that two persons Md. Irfan and Satish Kumar were arrested on 07.11.2003 at 6.00 P.M. near the Beur Jail since they were involved in kidnapping and realizing ransom when the call of the victim Amit came on the mobile of Md. Irfan from which it was gathered that said Amit Kumar and his associates were planning to kidnap the Director of Sachdewa Coaching Institute when the raid was laid near Khadim Show Room by the S.T.F. to apprehend Amit Kumar on identification of Md. Irfan and Satish where Amit Kumar was supposed to meet Md. Irfan, but in process of arrest Amit Kumar made an attempt to flee away but unfortunately collided with the traffic divider leading to his

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fall when the crowd chased and assaulted suspecting him to be a thief. When the raiding team pacified the matter and took him to PMCH and from there the family members of the victim took him to Rajeshwar Hospital and ultimately to Magadh Hospital where Amit died on 08.11.2003. Initially the present case was registered against 30-40 unknowns under Sections 147, 149, 323 and 307 of the IPC but subsequently after the death of the victim Amit, section 302 of the IPC was added.

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Though Kotwali P.S. Case No. 502 of 2003 was registered on 08.11.2003 at 7.00 P.M.against Md. Irfan, Satish Kumar and Amit after the arrest of Md. Irfan and Satish Kumar when Satish and Md. Irfan were arrested for collecting extortion, in the meantime, Amit called on mobile of Md. Irfan when Md. Irfan was informed that Amit and his associates are planning to kidnap Director of Sachdewa Coaching Institute when the raid was laid for apprehending Amit. Charge-sheet was submitted in Kotwali P.S. Case No. 502 of 2003 vide charge-sheet No. 04 of 2004 on 06.01.2004 when Md. Irfan and Satish Kumar were charge-sheeted treating the third accused Amit as dead. Consequently cognizance was taken against charge-sheeted accused.

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The third version of the whole episode was initiated

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by the brother of the victim Amit, namely Sanjeev Kumar @ Lala when he filed Complaint Case No. 2479 of 2003 on 12.11.2003 making accusation that the victim was assaulted by Arshad Zaman the Dy.S.P. and his two bodyguards at Ekta Bhawan during interrogation since the headquarter of STF was situated within the premises of Ekta Bhawan.

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Subsequently one of the accused namely Bhagwati Mishra filed an application before the learned court below for stay of the proceeding of the case since for the same occurrence, investigation in pursuance of Kotwali P.S. Case No. 503 of 2003 was still pending and consequently the learned court below vide order dated 12.05.2005 stayed the proceeding of the complaint case.

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The order of stay dated 12.05.2005 passed by the learned court below was challenged by Sanjeev Kumar @ Lala, the brother of the victim vide Cr. Misc. No. 4318 of 2005 before this Court but the said quashing application was dismissed vide order dated 16.05.2006 passed by this Court. Subsequently on the application made by Sanjeev Kumar @ Lala the National Human Rights Commission directed the investigation of Kotwali P.S. Case No. 503 of 2003 to be carried out by C.I.D. when C.I.D. took over the investigation

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on 02.08.2008 where the investigation is still pending.

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It is submitted by learned senior counsel Mr. Rana Pratap Singh, appearing for the petitioner Sidheshwar Kumar Dubey that being the S.I. of STF this petitioner lodged the present case as well as Kotwali P.S. Case No. 502 of 2003 as the victim Amit received injury due to fall on the road divider when he was trying to flee away on the chase made by the raiding party and the assault made by the public suspecting him to be a thief when this petitioner along with other raiding team members took Amit to PMCH from where the family members took the victim to Rajeshwar hospital and from there to Magadh hospital where he died. The occurrence is of 07.11.2003 and the victim died on 08.11.2003 but the complaint was filed by the brother of the victim on 12.11.2003 when the father of the victim being Ex-police personnel was all along with the victim since the victim received injuries but he never choose to file any case. Moreover, the post-mortem does not corroborate the accusation of brutal assault by Dy.S.P. Arshad Zaman and his two bodyguards when the family members only supported the accusation who are not the eye witnesses and the order passed by the High Court dismissing the quashing application which was filed challenging the stay

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of the proceeding of complaint case was never been challenged.

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It is further submitted that with the raiding team the earlier arrested co-accused Md. Irfan and Satish Kumar were there for identification of Amit but only statement of Satish under Section 161 Cr.P.C. has been recorded which does not suggest the complicity of petitioners though Md. Irfan subsequently died after submission of charge-sheet in Kotwali P.S. Case No. 502 of 2003 on 06.01.2004.

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It is submitted by Mr. Kanhaiya Prasad Singh, the learned senior counsel for the petitioner Arshad Zaman that his petitioner was posted at Sachiwalaya Police Station when the occurrence either took place within the territorial jurisdiction of Kotwali or Phulwarisharif Police Stations. Hence, he had no jurisdiction either to interrogate the victim or to assault him. Moreover, this petitioner was not in raiding team which was admittedly consists of STF personnel but since the petitioner supervised the two cases lodged against the victim earlier, who was a veteran criminal, the petitioner has been roped in the present case.

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It is submitted by Mrs. Anita Sinha learned counsel for the petitioner Vishwajeet Dayal that this petitioner was Dy. S.P. in the STF but he was posted in the rural area and was not

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a member of raiding team. This petitioner took the injured to the hospital on the direction of the then S.P. STF Mr. Vinay Kumar who wrote to the DGP about non-involvement of this petitioner in the occurrence which gets reflected from the letter contained in Annexure-3. Moreover, this petitioner was neither named in the First Information Report nor in the complaint case filed by the brother of the victim.

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It is submitted by Mr. Raj Kumar learned counsel for the petitioner Arjun Prasad that being S.I. of STF this petitioner was member of the raiding party named in the complaint case filed by the brother of the victim but the accusation is not specific and the eye witnesses particularly the family members and relatives of the victim whose statements under Section 161 Cr.P.C. recorded in paragraph nos. 140 and 141 of the case diary have not named this petitioner.

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It is submitted by learned counsels for the brother of the victim and the State that the victim was in love with a girl named Sofia, the daughter of Sabir Khan who was Reader at the relevant time at Shastrinagar Police Station and subsequently transferred to the office of I.G. The said relationship of victim with the daughter of police personnel was not liked by the police officers, hence, Amit was killed by

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the police officers under a sinister design when Sofia has also admitted that she was in love with Amit. In complaint case all the suspects were not named since the brother of the deceased was not aware about their names but the statements of the witnesses recorded in paragraph nos. 117, 135, 146 and 236 of the case diary suggest that the petitioner Vishwajeet Dayal was present at Ekta Bhawan during interrogation which is further corroborated by the statement of officer on duty on Ekta Bhawan whose statement has been recorded in paragraph no. 146 of the case diary.

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Considering the rival contentions of the parties, lodging of both the cases on 07.11.2003 being Kotwali P.S. Case No. 502 of 2003 and 503 of 2003 at 7.00 and 7.10 P.M. when admittedly both the incidents i.e. the arrest of Md. Irfan and Satish Kumar as well as the attempt to apprehend victim Amit when he received injuries were of 07.11.2003 around 6.00 P.M. create doubt about the conduct of the raiding team but keeping in view the unexplained delayed in filing the complaint case by the brother of the deceased which does not stipulate the motive as alleged by the victim’s family before the CID with regard to the love affair of the victim with Sofia, the daughter of the police personnel, the admitted position that the

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petitioners are not named in the FIR, complaint case could not proceed under judicial orders, the investigation is still pending, the name of petitioners surfaced after several years of institution of the case when the investigation was taken over by the CID and the family members not being eye witnesses, let the above named petitioners be released on anticipatory bail till the conclusion of the investigation in the event of their arrest or surrender before the learned court below within a period of twelve weeks from today, on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.10,000/- (Ten thousand) each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Patna in connection with Kotwali P.S. Case No. 503 of 2003, subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C.

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It is expected from the CID to conclude the investigation expeditiously.

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(Dinesh Kumar Singh, J.) DKS/

Arshad Zaman v. The State Of Bihar

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Arshad Zaman v. The State Of Bihar

Case brief

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What did the court decide?

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