The High Court allowed the petitioner's application for regular bail in a case involving theft and robbery. The court considered the delayed charge sheet, the lack of recovery of incriminating material, and the bail status of co-accused.
The petitioner was released on bail on furnishing a bond of Rs. 20,000/- with two sureties of like amount each.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.1873 of 2022
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-185 Year-2020 Thana- BIHPUR District- Bhagalpur
======================================================
CHANDAN KUMAR Son of Ashok Mandal Resident of Village - Pakkisari, P.S.- Ghogha, Distt.- Bhagalpur.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Ranjan Kumar Jha For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Tarkeshwar Nath Thakur ======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR SINHA ORAL ORDER
2 14-02-2022
Heard learned Counsel for the petitioner and learned Additional Public Prosecutor representing the State.
The petitioner seeks regular bail in connection with Bihpur (Jhandapur) Police Station Case No. 185 of 2020 registered for the offence punishable under Sections 379 of the I.P.C. and later on Section 395 of the I.P.C. was added.
The prosecution case, as per the First Information Report, is that some unknown thieves stolen the tractor of the informant while the informant after parking the same on the road side went to attend nature’s call.
Learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner is not named in the First Information Report and subsequently Section 395 of the I.P.C. has been added on the basis of re-statement of the informant recorded by the
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.1873 of 2022(2) dt.14-02-2022 2/3
Investigating Officer in which he has changed earlier prosecution story by stating that six accused persons arrived on a Bolero vehicle and pulled the informant out from his tractor and kept him in the Bolero vehicle and fled away with the informant’s tractor. He next submits that name of the petitioner transpired on the basis of confessional statement of co-accused Vikash Kumar in Industrial Police Station Case No. 48 of 2020. He further submits that the petitioner was not put on Test Identification Parade as yet and the driver has not identified some of the co-accused persons in the Test Identification Parade. He next submits that no looted article and/or incriminating material has been recovered from the possession of the petitioner. He further submits that similarly situated co-accused persons, namely, Gautam Kumar (Criminal Misc. No. 36417 of 2021), Rahool Kumar Sah (Ciminal Misc. No. 33574 of 2021), Vikash Kumar (Criminal Misc. No. 39222 of 2021) and Sushil Kumar (Criminal Misc. No. 43919 of 2021) have been granted bail by this Court. He further submits that the petitioner is in custody since 06.01.2021 and charge sheet has been submitted against him and as such, there is no likelihood that the petitioner will abscond and/or tamper with the evidence.
Regards being had to the submissions made by the
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parties and taking into consideration the material on record and the fact that no looted article has been recovered from the possession of the petitioner, he is in custody since 22.01.2021, charge sheet has already been submitted and similarly situated co-accused have been granted bail by this Court, I am inclined to grant regular bail to the petitioner.
This application is, accordingly, allowed.
Let the petitioner, above named, be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 20,000/- (twenty thousand) each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned 1st Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Naugachia, in connection with Bihpur (Jhandapur) Police Station Case No. 185 of 2020.
This is subject to the condition that the petitioner shall present himself before the Court, as and when required and in the event of failure on his part to appear before the Court on two consecutive occasions, his bail bonds shall be liable to be cancelled.
(Anil Kumar Sinha, J.)
Prabhakar Anand/-
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the petitioner is entitled to be released on bail in a case involving theft where charges were enhanced after filing the FIR.
Whether there are any special circumstances justifying the denial of bail in the present case.
Whether the fact that similarly situated co-accused have been granted bail is relevant for the disposal of the bail application.
Chandan Kumar
The State of Bihar
Anil Kumar Sinha
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
