Court No. - 74
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 16637 of 2021 Applicant :- Kachali @ Siddharth Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Dinesh Kumar Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble J.J. Munir,J.
This is an application for bail on behalf of the applicant, Kachali @ Siddharth, in connection with Case Crime No. 11 of 2021, under Sections 302, 201, 120B IPC, Police Station - Ramnagar, District - Varanasi.
Heard learned Counsel for the applicant and learned A.G.A. appearing for the State through video conferencing.
It is submitted on behalf of the applicant that the case is one where the First Information Report was lodged against an unknown offender. It is, therefore, essentially a case built on circumstantial evidence. It is pointed out that the name of co- accused, Ankit Modanwal, surfaced through the information that the police claimed to have acquired from their mysterious agency of a mukhbir khaas, saying that Ankit, the murderer, along with one of his friend, Ram Narayan, was standing near Lanka and was on lookout to escape. It is claimed by the prosecution that Ankit Modanwal was arrested and from his possession, a loaded pistol with one cartridge and the Aadhaar Card of the deceased Ram Narayan Yadav were recovered. Ankit Modanwal is said to have made an extrajudicial confession to the police that he killed Ram Narayan Yadav on instigation, because he borrowed a sum of Rs. 15,000/- from Ram Narayan Yadav, assuring him that he would repay Rs. 18,000/- in a month, of which he had, in fact, paid Rs. 10,000/-, but Ram Narayan Yadav was demanding the balance. It is argued with much emphasis that after doing Ram Narayan to death, Ankit, according to his confession, snatched his mobile and threw away his body in the Ganga with the help of the applicant, using the tempo of another Saddam. It is emphasized that no one had seen the occurrence, not even the alleged act of throwing away the dead body, wherein the applicant is said to have participated. It is also argued that the evidence against the applicant is confined to Section 201 IPC, and that too, based on the confession of a co-accused and nothing more. It is also pointed out that nothing has been recovered, either from the applicant's possession or on his pointing out. The applicant is claimed to have been arrested by the police from his house for the extraneous consideration that he declined to work for them at the police station as a labourer. The charge against the applicant is no more than one under Sections 201 and 120B IPC. He has admittedly no role in the murder. It is, particularly, argued that the applicant is a law abiding citizen, who has no criminal history. He is in jail since 12.01.2021.
Learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for bail.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of allegations, the gravity of the offence, the severity of punishment, the evidence appearing in the case, in particular, the fact that the case is one of circumstantial evidence, the case against the applicant is not of murdering the deceased, but concealing evidence and conspiracy alone, about which evidence is prima facie one of an extrajudicial confession by the co-accused and nothing more, but without expressing any opinion on merits, this Court, finds it to be a fit case for bail.
The bail application, accordingly, stands allowed.
Let the applicant - Kachali @ Siddharth, involved in the aforesaid case be released on bail on executing his personal bond and furnishing two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Court concerned with the following conditions:
(i) The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence.
(ii) The applicant shall not threaten or harass the prosecution witnesses.
(iii) The applicant shall appear on the date fixed by the Trial Court.
(iv) The applicant shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which the applicant is accused, or suspected of the commission.
(v) The applicant shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case, so as to dissuade such person from disclosing facts to the Court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
(vi) The party shall file a computer generated copy of this order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, which shall be self attested by the counsel of the party concerned.
(viii) The Court/Authority/Official concerned shall verify the authenticity of the computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
In case of default of any of the condition(s) enumerated above, the complainant would be free to move an application for cancellation of bail before this Court.
It is clarified that anything said in this order is limited to the purpose of determination of this bail application and will, in no way, be construed as an expression on the merits of the case. It is further clarified that the Trial Court shall be absolutely free to arrive at its independent conclusions on the basis of evidence led unaffected by anything said in this order.
Order Date :- 10.5.2021 I. Batabyal