Dhananjay Pratap Singh and Anr v. The State of Assam

ORDER

17.01.2023

Heard Ms. T. Mishra, learned counsel for the applicants and Mr. B.B. Gogoi, learned Addl. P.P. for the State respondent.

¶2Apprehending arrest in connection with Sonapur PS Case No. 44/2021, under sections 120[B]/379/411 of the IPC read with section 21[4] of the Mines and Minerals Act, this application under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is preferred by applicant, namely, Sri Dhananjay Pratap Singh and Sri Digvijay Pratap Singh for grant of pre-arrest bail.

¶3The said case was registered on the basis of an FIR lodged by SI Bhupendra Rawat, on 08.02.2022 to the effect that acting on a tip off he has intercepted 3 numbers of Trucks, loaded with coal, which were standing in the service lane at Medhikuchi village, under Sonapur PS, bearing registration No. AS-01-KC-6188; AS-01-NC-2688; and MH-12-TR-DVK-854. On being asked, the driver of the vehicles have failed to produce any documents of the coals.

¶4Ms. Mishra, learned counsel for the applicants submits that pursuant to the order of this court dated 06.04.2022, the applicant appeared before the IO and his statement is recorded he has been co-operating with the Investigating Agency, and therefore, it is contended to make the interim order, dated

06.04.2022, absolute in the same terms and conditions.

¶5On the other Mr. Gogoi, learned Addl. P.P. submits that though several Page No.# 3/4 reminders were issued to the IO concerned, he has not received the case diary, yet.

¶6Having heard the submissions of learned Advocates of both sides, I have carefully gone through the petition and the documents placed on record. And it appears that this anticipatory bail application was filed on 04.04.2022 and interim was granted to the applicants on 06.04.2022 and since then the case diary has not been received. Mr. Gogoi, learned Addl. P.P. also submits that the same has received earlier and sent the same back to the IO for updating the same, but thereafter, the same has not yet been received.

¶7It is to be noted here that in the case of Satinder Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation, reported in 2022 Live Law SC 577, in paragraph No. 73[k], the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that bail application ought to be disposed of within a period of 2 weeks, except if the provisions mandate otherwise, with the exception being an intervening application. Applications for anticipatory bail are accepted to be disposed of within a period of 6 weeks, with the exception of any intervening application. Here in this case more than 8 months have been granted to the prosecution side to produce the case diary before this court, but the prosecution side has failed to produce the same, for which this application could not be disposed of.

¶8Ms. Mishra, learned counsel for the applicants further submits that the petitioners are the owner of 2 numbers of Trucks and the co-accused has already been granted the privilege of anticipatory bail and the present applicants are also stands in the same footing.

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¶9Having considered above and also having considered the observation made by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Satinder Kumar Antil [supra] this court is of the view that custodial interrogation of the applicants are unwarranted in the interest of investigation and since the applicants have been co-operating with the investigating agency, this court is inclined to make the interim order dated 06.04.2022 absolute in the same terms and condition.

¶10In terms of above this AB stands disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010068832022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oAB/988/2022o DHANANJAYoPRATAPoSINGHoANDoANRo S/OoMAHARANAoPRATAPoSINGHo BYoFAITHoANDoRELIGION-oHINDU,oBYoPROFESSION-oBUSINESSMAN,o PERMANENToRESIDENToOFoB.B.CoCOLONY,oRAILWAYoQUARTERoNO.o80/A,o P.O.oPANDU,oP.S.oJALUKBARI,oINoTHEoDISTRICToOFoKAMRUPo(M),oATo GUWAHATI-781012,oASSAM 2:oSRIoDIGVIJAYoPRATAPoSINGH oS/OoMAHARANAoPRATAPoSINGH oBYoFAITHoANDoRELIGION-oHINDU oBYoPROFESSION-oBUSINESSMAN oPERMANENToRESIDENToOFoFLAToNO.oD-5oSANTIoNIWAS oBLOCKo-i o5THoFLOOR oNORTHoJALUKBARI oPO.oANDoP.S.oJALUKBARI oINoTHEoDIST.oOFoKAMRUPo(M) oAToGUWAHATI-781012 oASSAo VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMo REP.oBYoTHEoPP,oGOVT.oOFoASSAM AdvocateoforotheoPetitionerooooo:oMR.oVoUPADHYAYo AdvocateoforotheoRespondento:oPP,oASSAMoo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Page No.# 2/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ROBIN PHUKAN