Dismissed

Ganugapenta Veera Sekhar Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh

Telangana HC18 Feb 2015CRLP/340/2015

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

This order disposed of a bail application filed by accused Nos. 11 and 12 under Sections 437 and 439 CrPC. The High Court dismissed the petition, holding that despite no incriminating material being recovered from the petitioner, his involvement in multiple similar cases and the ongoing investigation warranted denial of bail.

What did the court decide?

The Criminal Petition was dismissed; bail was not granted to the petitioners.

Ganugapenta Veera Sekhar Reddy Vs State of Andhra Pradesh — Corruption | Telangana HC (2015)

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THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR

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CRIMINAL PETITION No.340 of 2015

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ORDER:

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The petitioners, who are accused Nos.11 and 12, filed the present application under Sections 437 and 439 Cr.P.C. seeking enlargement on bail in Crime No. 290 of 2014 of Punganur Police Station, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 353, 307, 109, 379 120-B read with 34 IPC, Sections 29 and 32 of the Forest Act and Rules 3 & 4 of the Andhra Pradesh Sandalwood and Redsanders Wood Transit Rules, 1969 and Section 29 of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, Sections 55 (2) and 58 of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Sections 24-A, 24-B and 25 (1-AAA) of Arms Act, 2002.

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The case of the prosecution is that on 09.11.2014 at about 3.30 p.m. while the S.I. of Police along with his staff were conducting vehicle check on EdigapalliChembakuru road, found accused Nos.1 to 6 illegally transporting 8 red sander logs weighing about 217 kgs. in Tata-407 pick up vehicle bearing No. AP 02 TB 1605. When the police tried to stop the vehicle, accused Nos.1 to 6 revolted with sickles and axes with an intention to kill them. Police arrested and seized 8 red sander logs along with the vehicle. On interrogation they revealed that they along with accused Nos.7 to 26 formed themselves into a gang and committed theft of 8 red sander longs.

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Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondent-State.

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A perusal of the material on record would disclose that a case in Crime No.186 of 2014 of Puthalapadu Police Station came to be registered against the petitioner and others for the offences punishable under Sections 307, 353, 109, 379 and 120 (B) IPC, Sections 29 and 32 of the Andhra Pradesh forest Act, 1967, Rule 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Sandalwood and Red Sanders Transit Rules, 1969, Section 29 of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, Section 55 (2) of the Bio-Diversity Act, 2002 and Section 27 of the Arms Act. The incident in the said crime took place on 10.11.2014 at about 6.00 a.m. on Chittoor-Kadapa Road at Petamitta Cross, wherein 17 red sander logs weighing 292 kgs., one knife, laptop, cash, gold and other incriminating material worth Rs.10,84,000/- was recovered from accused Nos.1 to 4,

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who were arrested at the spot. The confession of accused No.1 recorded by the police would disclose transportation of huge quantity of red sander logs from the forest and dumping the same in a godown at Autonagar, Vijayawada, by taking the said premises on lease. His confession refers to the involvement of the petitioner along with others in other crimes and also in the case on hand. Hence, on P.T.warrant he was produced before the Court.

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The averments in the case refer to the incident took place on 05.11.2014. On that day, accused Nos.1 and 2, who were transporting the red sander logs were apprehended. On interrogation they confessed about forming themselves into one group, going to Seshachalam forest, Tirupati, chopping red sandal trees, carving them into logs and transporting them in different vehicles to sell the same in Chennai, Hyderabad and Vijayawada including Karnataka. The statements of the accused who were arrested on the spot in the present case disclose that they along with the petitioner were doing business of cutting of red sanders and transporting the same to different places. Though the case is based on the confession of the coaccused, but at the same time it is to be noted that since the case is still at the stage of investigation, the said confession cannot be rejected. The same can be made the basis for proceedings with further investigation.

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While dealing with the relevancy of the confession, learned Single Judge of this Court in State of Andhra Pradesh V. Kollam Gangi Reddy observed as under:

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“The Apex Court in State though C.B.I. V. Amarmani Tripathy categorically laid down that the confession of co-accused can also be a basis for holding prima facie accusation against the accused for negating bail in rejecting the contention contra.”

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There is no dispute that the contraband, which has been seized are red sander logs. CITES as well as International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has acknowledged that Red Sandalwood is an endangered species. Red sandalwood is species of India seen nowhere in the world. I t is found only in South India, especially in Cuddapah and Chittoor in the States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh border. Red sandalwood possesses medicinal properties viz., an anticoagulant, improves local circulation and used on traumatic wounds, aberrations and bruises. The Government of A.P. has banned the sale of Red Sanders even by private parties, the wood is of huge demand in Japan, China and Western world and is very costly and it is included in the negative list of plant species for export purposes, implemented

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by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, placing restrictions on international trade of Red Sanders. Since large scale smuggling of Red Sanders is however reported from various quarters, to protect the species, a proposal was made by the State of A.P. to Government of India for its inclusion in Schedule VI of the Act. Sandalwood finds no place in CITES but was included in the Red List of IUCN as "vulnerable" and hence call for serious attention by the Central Government, considering the fact that all the sandalwood growing states have stated that it faces extinction. (T.N.Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India and others).

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One of the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner was arrested in November, 2014 and since then he is in jail. No incriminating material is recovered from him till date, but as seen from the record, the petitioner along with others, were transporting red sander logs to different place. Non-recovery of any material may not be a mitigating circumstance at this stage. The record reveals that the petitioner is involved in four cases of similar nature. Though he was released on bail in one case but due to his involvement in number of cases and as the present case is still under investigation, I am not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner at this stage.

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Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is dismissed.

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JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR

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gkv

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18.02.2015

Ganugapenta Veera Sekhar Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh

Case brief

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Ganugapenta Veera Sekhar Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh

Case brief

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