Furken alias Mana vs State of Haryana

K.S. Garewal, J.—This order shall dispose of three connected bail applications, which have been filed by Furken (Crl. Misc. No. 46864-M of 2000), Veena Devi (Crl. Misc. No. 2187-M of 2001) and Sanjay (Crl. Misc. No. 2610-M of 2001). The cases arise out of the complaint of Dina Nath with regard to an organised racked of selling Government appointments to various posts on payment of huge amounts of money. The complainant has four sons, who were all unemployed. He was approached by Nathi Ram Passi, a co-accused of the petitioners and husband of Veena Devi petitioner and got impressed by Passi''s connection with senior politicians in Delhi and also in Haryana. Passi promised to secure a job for complainant''s son Sunil Kumar and indeed succeeded in getting the appointment. Therefore, the complainant sought jobs for his other two sons and also paid various sums of money amounting to Rs. 2.18 lacs approximately on various dates.

The case against the petitioners is that they were sitting near Passi whenever the demands were made by him from the complainant and also joined Passi in visiting the complainant''s house. It is also alleged that they pressurised the complainant to pay the amounts demanded. It is further alleged that when Furken petitioner was arrested, a Gypsy with a red light, 17 letter pads of Chief Minister, Haryana and Identity Card showing him to be General Secretary of INLD (Indian National Lok Dal, which is the ruling party of Haryana) were found in his possession. When Veena Devi was arrested, a 12 bore D.B.B.L. gun owned by her for which the licence had expired, visiting cards of some officers, letter pads, pass books of two banks, sale deeds of two plots of 100 yards each, a rubber stamp and a letter head showing that she was General Secretary of Dalit Maria Sabha, U.P. were recovered. Against Sanjay, the allegation is that a forged letter on the basis of his disclosure statement was recovered showing that his brother Sushil Kumar had been recommended for a job by the Minister of Railways alongwith others. As regards Sanjay further allegation is that he was a victim of the gang of racketeers led by Passi and had indeed given Rs. 15.000/- to him to secure a job for his brother Sushil Kumar.

Nathi Ram Passi is the main accused in this case and the leader of the gang which was extorting money from ordinary people on the pretext of securing jobs. The complainant had given him Rs. 2.18 lacs which is a considerable amount. However, the extent of involvement of each of the petitioners in this racket is what is required to be seen. Furken possessed Gypsy with a red light. This by itself is not an offence. He is stated to be present with Nathi Ram Passi when some demands were made by Passi and he was also found to be in possession of 17 letter pads of Chief Minister, Haryana and a forged Identity Card showing him to be General Secretary of INLD.

Veena Devi was found to have been in possession of aDBBL gun whose licence was expired, some visiting cards, letters pads, pass books, rubber stamp and letter pad of General Secretary of Dalit Maha Sabha. The recovery from Sanjay on the basis of his disclosure statement is of a letter in which his brother was recommended for job.

The prosecution shall have to establish through evidence of witnesses and docu- ments that the petitioners had joined Nathi Ram Passi in extorting money from the complainant but the items recovered from the possession of the petitioners do not bear a direct connection with the racket in which the complainant was ensnared by Passi. Passi being the main accused is not before this Court seeking bail. Circumstances do not require that the petitioners be detained further in custody.

The petitioners are directed to be released on bail on their furnishing bail bond in the sum of Rs. 50,000/- each with two sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Magistrate, Jagadhri.

Petition allowed