Court No. - 72
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 1003 of 2021 Applicant :- Neeraj Kumar Singh Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Chandra Kumar Rai Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Singh,J.
Rejoinder affidavit filed today on behalf of applicant is taken on record.
Heard Mr. V.P. Srivastava, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Chandra Kumar Rai, learned counsel for the applicant, learned Additional Government Advocate representing the State and perused the record of the case.
By means of this application, applicant-Neeraj Kumar Singh, who is involved in Case Crime No. 287 of 2019, under sections 302, 201, 120-B and 34 IPC, police station Express Way, district Gautam Budh Nagar, seeks enlargement on bail during the pendency of trial.
It is the case of the prosecution that the first information report has been lodged on 09.09.2019 by the informant Bhanwar Singh against unknown person informing the police that a dead body is lying in an abandoned condition near the bank of river Yamuna. Thereafter, inquest proceedings and post-mortem examination of the deceased were conducted on the same day i.e. 09.09.2019 and thereafter the dead body of the deceased was cremated. Later on, on 17.09.2019, one Smt. Mamta Rawat, wife of the deceased identified that the clothes of the deceased are of her husband-Sanjeev Rawat, and thereafter, on 17.09.2019, Smt. Mamta Rawat, wife of the deceased, has moved an application making allegation against Harendra, Sameer, Vikram Singh and Sujeet. Thereafter, her statement under section 161 Cr.P.C. was recorded, in which also she has narrated the same story disclosing the names of aforesaid accused persons.
It is argued by the learned counsel for the applicant that no one is the eye-witness of the incident and names of the applicant and other co-accused persons have surfaced in this case after about 10 days of cremation of the dead body of the deceased. On 19.09.2019, statements of Avinash Gaur, who is the landlord of the building and Vinod Kumar Singh, who is the guard posted there, were recorded, in which they have named the six accused persons including the applicant. On the strength of the aforesaid fact, it is argued that only evidence against the applicant is of last seen and there is no recovery from the possession of the applicant. It is next argued by the learned counsel for the applicant that in fact the applicant is not Harendra, but he has been inducted in this case by showing his name as Neeraj Kumar Singh alias Harendra through the statement of co-accused Dhirendra Kumar Sharma alias Sonal Singh after his arrest. Learned counsel for the applicant also submitted that the case of the present applicant stands on similar footing to that of co-accused Abhishek Anand alias Vikram Singh, Dhirendra Kumar and Abhinav Pandey @ Vikas Singh @ Lambu, who have already been granted bail by co- ordinate Bench of this Court vide orders dated 08.06.2021, 17.06.2020 and 01.10.2020 passed in Criminal Misc. Bail Application Nos. 1157 of 2021, 14204 of 2020 and 28360 of 2020 respectively, therefore, the applicant is also entitled to be released on bail on the ground of bail. Learned counsel for the applicant also submitted that prior to lodging of first information report of this case, the applicant was having a criminal history of one case being Case Crime No. 545 of 2018, under sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471, 419, 34 IPC, police station Sector 58 NOIDA, district Gautam Budh Nagar, in which the applicant was not named and he is on bail, copy of bail order has been filed as annexure 1 to the rejoinder affidavit. It is next submitted that after lodging of FIR of this case, the applicant has been implicated in one more case being Case Crime No. 1505 of 2019, under sections 420, 406 IPC, police station Sector 20 NOIDA, district Gautam Budh Nagar, in which investigation is pending. It is also submitted that the applicant is facing detention since 25.09.2019. It is next contended that there is no chance of the applicant of fleeing away from the judicial process or tampering with the prosecution evidence. Learned counsel for the applicant lastly submitted that if the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail and will cooperate in the early disposal of the case.
Per contra, learned Additional Government Advocate has opposed the bail prayer of the applicant, but does not dispute that identically situated co-accused Abhishek Anand alias Vikram Singh, Dhirendra Kumar and Abhinav Pandey @ Vikas Singh @ Lambu, have already been granted bail by co-ordinate Bench of this Court.
Keeping in view the nature of the offence, evidence, complicity of the accused, submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, considering the fact that there is no eye-witness of the incident. The informant, who is the wife of the deceased is also not an eye-witness. After ten days of the cremation of the body, an application dated 17.09.2019 was moved by the wife of the deceased making allegation against the applicant and other co- accused persons. Except the extra-judicial confession of the co- accused Dhirendra Kumar Sharma and circumstantial evidence of last seen against the accused persons, there is no direct evidence against the applicant and other co-accused under similar accusation have already been granted bail by co- ordinate Bench of this Court, I am of the view that the applicant has made out a fit case for bail. Hence, the bail application is hereby allowed.
Let the applicant Neeraj Kumar Singh, be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions which are being imposed in the interest of justice:-
(1) That the applicant shall cooperate in the expeditious disposal of the trial and shall regularly attend the court unless inevitable.
(2) That 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 him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
(3) That after his release, the applicant shall not involve in any criminal activity.
(4) The applicant shall file computer generated copy of this order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad.
(5) The computer generated copy of this order shall be self attested by the counsel of the party concerned.
(6) The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
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. 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 :- 12.8.2021 Sazia