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Judgment
This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, BNSS), seeking pre-arrest bail.
The applicants are the accused Nos.1 and 2 in Crime No.252/2026 of Mangalam Dam Police Station, Palakkad District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 112, 316(2) and 318(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 the applicants along with the accused No. 3 jointly convinced the defacto complainant that they would secure him admission to the B.Sc. Radiology course at Dr.B.R. Ambedkar Medical College in Bengaluru. On that promise, an amount of ₹1,50,000/- was transferred to the bank accounts of the applicants on 13.10.2025 and 14.10.2025. Thereafter, the accused failed to provide the promised admission, thereby cheating and deceiving the defacto complainant. Thus, the applicants have committed the aforementioned offences.
I have heard Sri. Rohit Baben, the learned counsel for the applicants and Smt. Aneeda Beegum, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.
The learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicants with the alleged crime; hence, they are entitled to bail. The learned Senior Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, submitted that the alleged incident occurred as part of the applicants' intentional criminal acts, and if they are released on bail at this stage, it will affect the course of the investigation.
The law regarding the grant or refusal of pre-arrest bail is well settled. Pre-arrest bail cannot be granted as a matter of course. The power under Section 482 of BNSS could be exercised only when a special case is made out, that too, recording reasons thereof. Perusal of the case diary reveals that the accusation made against the applicants is very serious in nature, and it prima facie shows a premeditated criminal act on their part. According to the applicants, the defacto complainant was admitted to the B.Sc. Radiology course at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Institute of Allied Health Sciences, Bangaluru. The entire amount received from him was remitted by the applicants to the bank account of the college through NEFT transactions. When the case was posted on the previous hearing date, a direction was given to the learned Prosecutor to get specific instructions as to whether the defacto complainant had secured admission at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Medical College, Bengaluru. In response to that, instructions were obtained from the Principal of the said college through e-mail on 23.10.2026 which has been produced before this Court. It would show that as per the records, the defacto complainant was not admitted to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Institute of Allied Health Sciences, Bengaluru in the past five years and there is no fee paid in his name for any course.
The investigation is in a preliminary stage. The custodial interrogation of the applicants is necessary for the investigation. As rightly argued by the learned Senior Public Prosecutor, the possibility of the applicants influencing the witnesses and interfering with the investigation cannot be ruled out if they are released on bail. Considering the gravity of the offence and stage of the investigation, I am of the view that this is not a fit case where the extraordinary jurisdiction vested with this Court under Section 482 of BNSS could be invoked. The bail application is, accordingly, dismissed. Sd/-