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Judgment
This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking pre-arrest bail.
The applicants are the accused Nos. 1, 3 and 6 in Crime No.806/2026 of Central Police Station, Ernakulam District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 140(2), 140(3), 308(2), 127(2) and 115(2) read with Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The prosecution case, in short, is that on 12.08.2026 at about 10:00 p.m., the applicant Nos. 1 and 2 along with the accused Nos. 2 and 4 abducted the defacto complainant in a red Polo car from Karikkamuri, Ernakulam, assaulted him inside the vehicle and transported him to an isolated building at a cardamom plantation in Rajakkad, Idukki. Further, the applicant No.3 along with the accused Nos. 5 and 7 to 10 joined them at the said building, unlawfully detained and assaulted the defacto complainant, stripped him, forced him to perform a naked dance which was recorded on a mobile phone by the accused No.4, extorted money by sending messages from his mobile phone, extorted his Instagram password, uploaded the recorded video onto his profile, subsequently abandoned him at Perumbavoor on 13.08.2026 and the applicants thereby committed the offences.
I have heard Sri. Shabu Sreedharan, the learned counsel for the applicants and Sri. Thomas Sabu Vadakekut, the learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.
The defacto complainant has filed an affidavit stating that the matter has been settled amicably and that he has no objection in granting pre-arrest bail to the applicants. Hence, I am of the view that the custodial interrogation of the applicants is unnecessary. For these reasons, I find this to be an appropriate case to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicants.
In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions:-
The applicants shall be released on bail in the event of their arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/-(Rupees One lakh only) each with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the arresting officer/investigating officer, as the case may be.
The applicants shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting themselves to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as and when demanded.
The applicants shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. every Saturday until further orders. They shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.
The applicants shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.
The applicants shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.
The applicants shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.
The application, if any, for deletion/modification of bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.