Judgment:
CRM No.M-17418 of 2014 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM No.M-17418 of 2014 Date of Decision:-8.7.2014 Manpreet Singh ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MEHINDER SINGH SULLAR Present: Mr.Harchand Singh Batth, Advocate for the petitioner. Mehinder Singh Sullar, J.
(Oral) Petitioner Manpreet Singh son of Mohinder Singh, has directed the instant petition for the grant of concession of anticipatory bail, in a case registered against him along with his wife and other co-accused, vide FIR No.242 dated 25.9.2013, on accusation of having committed the offences punishable under sections 420 and 120-B IPC by the police of Police Station Sultanwind, Distt. Amritsar City.
2. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner, going through the record with his valuable help and after considering the entire matter deeply, to my mind, there is no merit in the present petition in this regard.
3. Ex-facie, the argument of learned counsel that since the petitioner has been falsely implicated by the complainant in the present case, so, he is entitled to the concession of pre-arrest bail, sans merit.
4. Precisely, the prosecution version, as culled out from the impugned order dated 18.4.2014 (Annexure P1) of ASJ, in substance, is as under:- Arvind Kumar Sharma 2014.07.08 18:50 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh CRM No.M-17418 of 2014 2 “In the present case the FIR was registered at the instance and on the statement of Mohinderpal Singh, Gurinder Singh and Poonam. It is in accusations that on LIC agent Manpreet Singh and his wife Bhupinder Kaur duped them to the tune of Rs.10 lac by forming a fake company and thereafter sold his house and left the place. Allegations against the accused are that he was duped the complainant by forming a fake insurance company. Serious allegations of cheating and forgery have been levelled against the applicant-accused.”. 5. Meaning thereby, very direct and serious allegations are assigned to the petitioner that he along with his wife and other co-accused has fraudulently duped the complainant to the tune of Rs.10 lacs by forming a fake insurance company and thereafter sold his house and left the place. The petitioner is evading his arrest since the date of registration of this case against him. It cannot possibly be denied that the tendency & frequency of cheating and misappropriating the huge amount of innocent persons by such accused for their illegal gains, have been tremendously increasing day-by- day, which needs to be curbed with heavy hands. In this manner, the petitioner has received a huge amount from the complainant and other victims. Even he has not returned the amount to them. To me, his custodial interrogation is necessary to remove the curtain and unearth the scam. In case, he is allowed the concession of pre-arrest bail, then, the police will be deprived to recover huge pointed amount, other case property, ascertain modus operandi of the petitioner, his involvement in other such scam and effective investigation. It would naturally adversely affect & weaken the case of the prosecution, which to my mind, is not legally permissible. Therefore, he is not entitled to the concession of anticipatory bail in the obtaining circumstances of the case.
6. Moreover, it is now well settled principle of law that the order of anticipatory bail cannot be allowed to circumvent normal procedure of Arvind Kumar Sharma 2014.07.08 18:50 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh CRM No.M-17418 of 2014 3 arrest, recovery of huge amount/case property from the main accused and investigation by the police. The Court has also to see that the investigation is in the province of the police and an order of anticipatory bail should not operate as an in-road into the statutory investigational powers of the police, in exercising the judicial discretion in granting the anticipatory bail. Sequelly, the Court should not be unmindful of the difficulties likely to be faced by the investigating agency and the public interest likely to be affected thereby.
7. In the light of aforesaid reasons, taking into consideration the seriousness of allegations of cheating & misappropriation of indicated amount against him and without commenting further anything on merits, lest it may prejudice the case of either side during the course of trial of main case, as there is no merit, therefore, the instant petition for pre-arrest bail filed by the petitioner is hereby dismissed as such.
8. Needless to mention that nothing observed, here-in-above, would reflect, on merits of the main case, in any manner, during the trial, as the same has been so recorded for a limited purpose of deciding the present petition for anticipatory bail. Sd/- 8.7.2014 (Mehinder Singh Sullar) AS Judge Arvind Kumar Sharma 2014.07.08 18:50 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh