Nanepogu Kamaraju vs State Of Andhra Pradesh

K.Suresh Reddy, J

This Criminal Petition, under Sections 437 and 439 of Cr.P.C., has been filed by the petitioner/Accused Officer No.2, seeking regular bail, in Crime No.06/RCT-KUR/2023 of A.C.B., Kurnool Range, Kurnool.

The above crime has been registered against the petitioner herein and another for the offence punishable under Sections.7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Heard. Perused the record.

The case of the prosecution succinctly is thus:-

That the defacto complainant approached the Accused Officer No.1 for doing official favour i.e., appointing him as a Correspondent to the 12 Schools under the A.B.M Aided Schools; that initially Accused Officer No.1 demanded an amount of Rs.1,50,000/- towards bribe for doing an official favour and after negotiations by the defacto complainant, the said amount was reduced to Rs.1,00,000/-; that on 02-06-2023 on the instructions of the Accused Officer No.1, the defacto complainant paid an amount of Rs.50,000/- to the Accused Officer No.2; that when the defacto complainant requested the Accused Officer No.1 over phone for doing the official favour, the Accused Officer No.1 informed the defacto complainant that unless an amount of Rs.25,000/- is paid to the Accused Officer No.2, he will not do the official favour; that as the defacto complainant does not wish to pay the above said amount, he approached the ACB Officials; that on the basis of the complaint/report of the defacto complainant, the present crime has been registered against the Accused Officer Nos.1 and 2; that thereafter, a trap proceedings was laid on 07-06-2023; that during the course of trap proceedings, the said amount of Rs.25,000/- was recovered from the possession of Accused Officer No.3; that when the ACB officials confronted Accused Officer No.3, he disclosed that he received the said amount only on the instructions of Accused Officer Nos.1 and 2; that the chemical test conducted on the Accused Officer No.3 proved positive; that the petitioner was arrested on 07-06-2023 and subsequently remanded to the judicial custody.

The learned counsel for the petitioner/Accused Officer No.2 contends that the wife of the petitioner expired on 09-07-2023 and her mortal remains were kept in the petitioner’s house, as the relatives of the petitoner are waiting for the petitioner. Further, the learned counsel for the petitioner contends that only the petitioner has to conduct the final rites of his wife and his presence is very much essential at this juncture. He, therefore, requested this court to grant bail to the petitioner.

Per contra, the learned Standing Counsel for ACB and Special Public Prosecutor, on instructions, confirms the factum of death of petitioner’s wife.

In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, this Court is inclined to grant bail to the petitioner/Accused Officer No.2, on the following conditions.

(i) The petitioner/ Accused Officer No.2 herein shall be released on bail on his executing a personal bond for Rs.25,000/- (Rupees twenty five thousand only) with two(2) sureties for a like sum each to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judge for trial of SPE & ACB cases, Kurnool.

(ii) On release, the petitioner shall appear before the Station House Officer concerned once in a week i.e., on every Monday between 10.00 a.m. and 01.00 p.m., until further orders.

(iii) Further, the petitioner is directed not to hamper the investigation and tamper with the prosecution witnesses.

Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed.