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Judgment
This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking pre-arrest bail.
The applicants are the accused Nos. 3 to 9 and 11 in Crime No.290/2026 of Irikkur Police Station, Kannur District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 420, 408 and 409 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
The prosecution case, in short, is that during the period from 02/12/2023 to 28/03/2025, the accused persons 1 to 13, who were the office bearers, the secretaries and the employees of Irikkur Cooperative Bank, deceived the defacto complainant and promised him that he would be given a high rate of interest, if he deposits cash in the said bank. Without any intention of performing the said promise and with dishonest and fraudulent intention to make wrongful gain for themselves and corresponding wrongful loss to the defacto complainant, they induced the defacto complainant to deposit ₹30,50,000/- in the said bank and thereby committed the offences.
I have heard Sri. Thareeq Anver, the learned counsel for the applicants, Sri. Saleek C.A, the learned counsel for the defacto complainant and Sri. Thomas Sabu Vadakekut, the learned 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 above crime. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicants with the alleged crime; hence, they are entitled to get bail. The learned Public Prosecutor as well as the learned counsel for the defacto complainant, on the other hand, submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicants, and if they are released on bail at this stage, it will affect the course of the investigation.
The crime was registered pursuant to a private complaint filed by the defacto complainant before the jurisdictional Magistrate. The applicants are only the Directors of the Co-operative Bank. Admittedly, they have not received any money from the defacto complainant in their personal capacity. In the private complaint, the main allegation is against the accused No.2 who is the Secretary. Annexure 2 would show that, much prior to the registration of the present crime, the applicants had preferred a complaint against the Secretary who is the accused No.2 alleging misappropriation and a crime was registered against him. Considering the allegations made against the applicants, their custodial interrogation seems unnecessary. For these reasons, I find this to be an appropriate case to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicants.
In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions:-
The applicants shall be released on bail in the event of their arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/-(Rupees One lakh only) each with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the arresting officer/investigating officer, as the case may be.
The applicants shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting themselves to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as and when demanded.
The applicants shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. every Saturday until further orders. They shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.
The applicants shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.
The applicants shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.
The applicants shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.
The application, if any, for deletion/modification of bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.