IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 8TH DAY OF APRIL, 2019 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE B.A. PATIL CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 652/2019 BETWEEN:
Mr.Sathish, Aged about 21 years, S/o Late Somalinga, R/at.No.1041, 4th main, 2nd Cross, Vidyaranyapuram, Mysuru – 570008. ...Petitioner (By Sri.Vinuthan Murthy.B.V, Advocate for Sri.Pradeep Kumar.H.K, Advocate) AND:
State of Karnataka, By Vijayanagar Police Station, Mysore District Rep. by State Public Prosecutor, High Court Building, Bengaluru – 560001. ... Respondent (By Sri.M.Divakar Maddur, HCGP) This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioner on bail in Crime No.190/2017(S.C.No.258/2017) of Vijayanagar Police Station, Mysore City, for the offences punishable under Sections 120B, 302, 506 read with Section 34 of IPC.
This Criminal Petition coming on for Orders, this day, the Court made the following:
O R D E R The present petition has been filed by the petitioner/accused No.3 under Section 439 of Cr.P.C., seeking to release him on regular bail in Crime No.190/2017 of Vijayanagar Police Station, Mysuru District registered for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 120b, 506 read with Section 34 of IPC (S.C.No.258/2017) on the file of VII Additional District and Sessions Judge,Mysuru.
2. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned High Court Government Pleader for respondent-State.
3. The gist of the complaint is that accused No.1 has borrowed a sum of Rs.20,000/- from the deceased Jayaram and had not returned the same inspite of requests made by the deceased. They were working in Road Star Car Care Service Center and accused No.1 had also misused sum of Rs.17,000/- from the owner of the above service center. The deceased and the accused No.1 had fought several times in respect of the money transaction. On 27.05.2017, when the deceased, accused No.2 and one Govindaraju were returning home on Honda Activa Scooter bearing registration No.KA 09 EL 7850 at about 8.30 p.m., on double road, accused No.2 had asked the deceased to stop the bike in order to relive himself and at that time accused No.1 had come to the spot and asked accused No.2 to stab the deceased. Thereafter both accused Nos.1 and 2 had stabbed the deceased with dragon knife several times and threatened the said complainant who was also present at the spot and at that time they also saw accused No.3 standing at some distance in another Honda Active Scooter and by threatening the eye witness accused persons fled away from that place and immediately complainant called the police and later lodged complaint against the accused persons.
4. It is the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner/accused No.3 that the name of the petitioner/accused No.3 is not found either in the complaint or in the FIR. He further submits that CW.2 is also an eye witness examined before the Court on 06.03.2019, wherein he has not deposed the presence of the accused No.3 at the spot. He further submits that there is no specific overt acts of the petitioner/accused No.3, and has not assaulted the deceased. The accused/petitioner No.3 is ready to abide by any conditions that may be imposed on him by this Court and ready to offer surety. On these grounds, he prayed to allow the petition and to release the accused/petitioner on bail.
5. Per Contra, learned High Court Government Pleader vehemently argued and submitted that the petitioner/accused No.3 conspired with accused Nos.1 and 2 and he has assisted the accused persons while committing the heinous offence and he was also physically present at the place of the incident. After the incident, accused No.3 took his scooter and escaped from the scene and the said scooter has been recovered at the instance of the petitioner/accused No.3. He further submits that one more eye witness has to be examined before the Court and now it cannot be held that the petitioner/accused No.3 is not present and he has not participated. Hence, on these grounds, he prayed to dismiss the petition.
6. I have carefully gone through the charge sheet material which has been made available and even the deposition of CW.2 – Govindaraju and the said deposition was recorded on 06.03.2019 and therein he has deposed that accused No.3 was not seen at the place of the alleged incident. Be that as it may, though it is contended by the learned HCGP that CW.1 is also eye witness to the alleged incident and he has not been examined but as could be seen from the charge sheet material that only allegation which has been made as against accused Nos.1 and 2 that they have assaulted the deceased with dragon knife and caused injuries and as a result of the same that the deceased has succumbed to the injuries but in so far as accused No.3 is concerned, it has been alleged in the charge sheet that he was standing at some distance in another Honda Active Scooter and there are no specific overt acts as against the petitioner/accused No.3 is concerned. Under the said facts and circumstances, I feel that by imposing some stringent conditions, if the petitioner/accused No.3 is ordered to be released on bail, it is going to meet the ends of justice.
7. In the light of the discussions held by me above, petition is allowed. Petitioner/accused No.3 is enlarged on bail in Crime No.190/2017 of Vijayanagar Police Station, Mysuru District registered for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 120b, 506 read with Section 34 of IPC (S.C.No.258/2017) on the file of VII Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mysuru subject to the following conditions:
1. Petitioner/accused No.3 shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees Two lakhs only) with two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the trial Court.
2. He shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial Court without prior permission.
3. He shall mark his attendance once in a month i.e., on 1st of every month between 10.00 a.m., and 5.00 p.m., before the concerned police station, till the trial is concluded.
4. He shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence directly or indirectly.
5. He shall regularly appear before the trial Court for trial, without fail.
Sd/- JUDGE NS