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Judgment
Bela M. Trivedi, J
The application has been filed, seeking anticipatory bail under Section 438 of Cr. P.C., anticipating his arrest in respect of the FIR being C. R.
No.1120805020122 of 2020 registered at ‘A’ Division Police Station, Rajkot City for the offence punishable under Sections 406, 408, 409 and
114 of the IPC.
It appears that the FIR has been registered at the instance of complainant Kaushik Bhagwatilal, Executive Engineer in PGVCL against the present
applicant who is original accused No. 4 along with other seven accused alleging inter alia that during the course of audit for the Financial Year April,
2017 to March, 2018, it had come to the notice that on 15.02.2016, an amount of Rs. 5,78,250/- was wrongly credited in the account of M/s. Bhavani
Industries i.e. accused No. 8. It was also alleged that original receipt dated 15.02.2016 towards the payment of said amount was subsequently
cancelled in the computer system of PGVCL. It also appears that before the lodging of the complaint, an inquiry was also conducted at the
department level and the involvement of all the accused in the alleged offence of misappropriation was found, and therefore, the complaint was filed.
It is sought to be submitted by the learned Advocate for the applicant that only allegation against the present applicant who was the Account
Officer, is that his supervision and monitoring was very poor, which had caused loss to the PGVCL, otherwise there was no motive attributed against
the present applicant. He also submitted that the applicant has already been transferred to Junagadh and is to retire in one year.
The learned APP Ms. Moxa Thakkar for the respondent No.1 State has resisted the present application by submitting that the applicant had failed
to discharge his duties diligently and with utmost sincerity, and his negligence has caused loss to the Company â€" PGVCL.
Having regard to the submissions made by the learned Advocates for the parties and to the allegations made in the complaint, it appears that except
the allegation that the monitoring and supervision of the applicant as an Account Officer was poor, there was no allegation made against the present
applicant. The main allegation appears to be against accused No. 3 â€" Mrs. S.V. Vachani and accused No. 5 â€" Mr. M.L. Deshani, who had
allegedly misused their position and misappropriated the said amount, by crediting the same in the account of accused No.8. In any case, even if the
allegations made in the complaint are accepted in toto, there is hardly any involvement alleged against the present applicant.
In that view of the matter, the Court is inclined to grant the present application. The applicant is ordered to be released on bail in the event of his
arrest in connection with the FIR being C. R. No. 1120805020122 of 2020 registered at ‘A’ Division Police Station, Rajkot City on his executing
a personal bond of Rs. 25,000/- (Rupees twenty five thousand only) with one surety of like amount on the following conditions;
(a) shall cooperate with the investigation and make himself available for interrogation whenever required;
(b) shall remain present at concerned Police Station on 13th August, 2020 between 11.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m.;
(c) shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the fact of the case so as to dissuade him
from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer;
(d) shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not to play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police;
(e) shall at the time of execution of bond, furnish the address to the investigating officer and the court concerned and shall not change his residence till
the final disposal of the case till further orders;
(f) shall not leave India without the permission of the concerned trial court and if having passport shall deposit the same before the concerned trial
court within a week; and
(g) it would be open to the Investigating Officer to file an application for remand if he considers it proper and just and the learned Magistrate would
decide it on merits;
In the event of the arrest of the applicant, he shall be released on bail subject to aforesaid conditions, and this order shall remain in force for a
period of fifteen days from the date of his arrest, to enable the applicant to file application for regular bail in accordance with law.
Rule is made absolute to the aforesaid extent.
Direct service is permitted. Registry to communicate this order to the concerned Court/ Authority through Fax or E-mail.