Athul vs State Of Kerala Represented By Public Prosecuter, High Court Of Kerala

K.Haripal, J

Petitioner is the 1st accused in Crime No. 526 of 2021 of Nedumbassery Airport police station, which was initially registered alleging offence punishable under Sections 465, 471 and 399 of the IPC. This is the second application for bail moved by the petitioner, who is the 1st accused under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. His earlier application was dismissed by this Court by order dated 01.09.2021 8 on B.A. No. 6073 of 2021.

I heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and also the learned Senior Public Prosecutor.

According to the learned counsel, all other accused have been released on bail. The petitioner does not have criminal antecedents and that he is in judicial custody from 09.07.2021 onwards and 69 days have passed; nothing was recovered from him, though he was interrogated in custody.

The learned Senior Public Prosecutor has submitted that he is a person belonging to Malappuram district and had come to Nedumbassery as part of a gang of robbers, they were waiting to indulge in crime, intercepted and arrested by the police. Now offence under Section 120(B), 400, and 402 of the IPC also have been incorporated.

There are six accused in the crime. The petitioner is in custody for the last 69 days. As rightly pointed out by the learned counsel for the petitioner, his custodial interrogation is over, except the fact that the 4th accused is not apprehended, the investigation has progressed considerably. For the mere reason that one of the accused is not arrested, the detention of the petitioner cannot be continued indefinitely. To my specific query the learned Senior Public Prosecutor has submitted that no criminal antecedents is noticed against the petitioner. It is true that the petitioner was an active member of a whatsapp group operated by the 6th accused by name 'road trip'. He was a driving the car bearing a fake number plate. Despite all the above, having regard to the fact that no criminal antecedents is noticed against the petitioner and considering the progress in investigation there will not be any impediment in granting bail to the petitioner at this stage.

In the circumstances, the petitioner shall be released on bail on the following conditions:-

i) Petitioner shall execute a bond for Rs.50,000/-(Rupees Fifty Thousand only) with two solvent sureties each for the like sum to the satisfaction of jurisdictional court;

ii) He shall not try to contact or influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidence;

iii) He shall not leave the country without permission of the jurisdictional court;

iv) He shall surrender his passport before the Court; if he does not have one, will file an affidavit to that effect within ten days from the date of release;

v) He shall not involve in any crime during the period on bail;

vi) He shall appear before the jurisdictional Court as and when required;

vii) The petitioner shall strictly abide the various guidelines issued by the State and Central Governments with respect to keeping of social distancing in the wake of Covid 19 pandemic;

viii) If any of the above conditions are violated by the petitioner, the trial court will be a liberty to cancel the bail, in accordance with law.

Bail Application is allowed as above.