Jiji Philip vs State Of Kerala

K.Haripal, J

This is an application filed under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. by accused Nos.2 and 4 in crime No.569/2021 of Adoor police station, which was

registered alleging offence under Section 379 r/w Section 34 IPC, besides under Section 3(1) of of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act,

1984 (for short, the PDPP Act).

I heard counsel on both sides.

Petitioners were arrested for the case on 26.06.2021 and since then are in judicial custody.

The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the first petitioner, who is the second accused, is the elder brother of a cable TV operator, who

is the licencee; the crime has been registered under the undue influence of a rival cable TV operator who is the benami of one Subramaniyan,

Engineer of the BSNL. Referring to Annexure-II communication dated 06.05.2021, the learned counsel pointed out that the optical fibre cable which

was allegedly stolen belongs to one Rahul Krishnan, so that, according to the learned counsel, the contention that State had suffered loss cannot be

appreciated. According to the learned counsel, due to mistakes, if any on the part of the younger brother, the elder brother and a staff member have

been arrested and that they had nothing to do with the alleged commission of the crime. The crime is the result of business rivalry.

These arguments are denied by the learned Public Prosecutor. According to her, the optical fibre cable and other fittings belong to the BSNL, the

said rival operator is only a franchisee of the BSNL. Consequent to the large scale cutting and removal of those cables, irreparable damage has been

caused to the BSNL. Learned Public Prosecutor further pointed out that due to the pandemic situation, online education is in progress and since cable

and other fittings were cut and removed dishonestly by the accused, online education in the area has come to a halt causing hardships to the general

public.

The case diary also has been made available for perusal. It has come out that, may be due to business rivalry between two cable TV operators,

optical fibre cables and other fittings were cut and removed in a large scale between 17.04.2021 and 13.06.2021. The details of the mischiefs

committed by the miscreants can be seen from the case diary. Prosecution has arrayed petitioners and two others in the crime. The petitioners were

arrested on 26.06.2021. It is also evident from the report dated 05.07.2021 of the Investigating Officer that though accused Nos.2 and 4 were

arrested, the stolen items could not yet be retrieved. Vehicles used by the accused for committing the crime and for removing the cables, also remain

to be traced.

There are also reasons to think that the stolen articles belong to the BSNL. Estimated value of the items is Rs.40 lakhs, approximately. Cables were

cut and removed from numerous points, causing extensive damage to the network. It is specifically reported that the mischief committed by the

accused has resulted in obstruction to the online education of the children in the area. Similarly the other accused, Nos.1 and 3 could not yet be

arrested.

Having regard to the gravity of the offence and also since the stolen articles and the vehicles used are not yet recovered, I do not think that it is

advisable to release the petitioners on bail at this stage. The application is dismissed.