Kunal Prayag Singh @ Dheeraj Singh v. State of U.P

Court No. - 72 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 13580 of 2023 Applicant :- Kunal Prayag Singh @ Dheeraj Singh Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Vandana Gupta,Ashutosh Gupta Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J.

¶1List has been revised.

¶2Heard Sri Ashutosh Gupta, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Ashutosh Srivastava, learned A.G.A. for the State as well as perused the record.

¶3The present anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant in Case Crime No.258 of 2022, registered under Sections 419, 420 I.P.C. at Police Station-Sadar Bazar, District-Mathura with a prayer to enlarge him on anticipatory bail.

¶4As per prosecution story, the applicant is stated to have acted as imposter and projected himself to be commando in NSG and had duped the informant and friend of him to the tune of Rs.2,50,000/- each. The said amount was transferred to certain accounts through UPI.

¶5Learned counsel for the applicant has stated that he has been falsely implicated in this case. The applicant is a bona fide person and has no criminal antecedents to his credit. Several other submissions have been made on behalf of the applicant to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against him. The circumstances which, as per counsel, led to the false implication of the applicant have also been touched upon at length. The applicant has apprehension of his arrest. Learned counsel has stated that the applicant undertakes that he has co-operated in the investigation and is ready to do so in trial also failing which the State can move appropriate application for cancellation of anticipatory bail.

¶6Per contra, learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the anticipatory bail application on the ground that the applicant has opened a Facebook account by showing himself to be an NSG commando, thus he is not entitled for anticipatory bail.

¶7On due consideration to the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the applicant as well as learned A.G.A. and considering the nature of accusations and antecedents of the applicant, the applicant is liable to be enlarged on anticipatory bail in view of the judgment of Supreme Court in the case of "Sushila Aggarwal Vs. State (NCT of Delhi), (2020) 5 SCC 1". The future contingencies regarding the anticipatory bail being granted to applicant shall also be taken care of as per the aforesaid judgment of the Apex Court.

¶8In view of the above, the anticipatory bail application of the applicant is allowed. Let the accused-applicant-Kunal Prayag Singh @ Dheeraj Singh be released forthwith in the aforesaid case crime (supra) on anticipatory bail till the conclusion of trial on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions:-

(i). that the applicant shall make himself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required;

(ii). 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;

(iii). that the applicant shall not leave India without the previous permission of the court;

(iv). that in case charge-sheet is submitted the applicant shall not tamper with the evidence during the trial;

(v). that the applicant shall not pressurize/ intimidate the prosecution witness;

(vi). that the applicant shall appear before the trial court on each date fixed unless personal presence is exempted;

(vii). that in case of breach of any of the above conditions the court concerned shall have the liberty to cancel the bail.

¶9It is made clear that observations made hereinabove are exclusively for deciding the instant anticipatory bail application and shall not affect the trial. Order Date :- 16.12.2023 Vikas [Krishan Pahal, J.] High Court of Judicature at Allahabad