Crl. Misc. No. M-27113 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-27113 of 2009 DATE OF DECISION: February 02, 2010 Ashish Arora and others .........PETITIONER(S) VERSUS State of Haryana ......RESPONDENT(S) CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAI LAMBA Present: Mr. A.S. Gulia, Advocate, for the petitioner(s). Mr. Tarun Aggarwal, Sr. DAG, Haryana. Mr. Abhishek Sethi, Advocate, for the complainant. AJAI LAMBA, J. (ORAL) This petition has been filed under Section 438 Cr.P.C. for bail in case FIR No. 423 dated 27.08.2009 under Sections 420/406/120-B IPC, P.S. Model Town, District Panipat. One Abhilasha @ Ganga d/o Dr. J.P. Sethi and Amit @ Jojo (non- petitioner) were engaged to be married. Roka ceremony was conducted on 09.11.2008 at Panipat. Ring ceremony was held on 22.02.2009. As per the common case of the parties, both the sides are well to do and, therefore, gifts were exchanged other than the fact that expenses were incurred on the ceremonies. Crl. Misc. No. M-27113 of 2009 2 While the complainant side alleges that they spent more than Rs. 3,00,000/- on various ceremonies, on behalf of the petitioners, it has been argued that expensive gifts were given to the girl side which have not been returned till date. Be that as it may, marriage was scheduled to held on 30.08.2009 and preparations were made, however, as per the allegations the boy ran away on 24.08.2009. FIR came to be lodged on 27.08.2009 at the instance of Dr. J.P. Sethi. It further transpires that on 22.09.2009, Abhilash @ Ganga was married to another person. Gist of allegations is that the petitioners and in particular Amit @ Jojo cheated the girl side by way of projecting that he wanted to get married. It has been alleged that the entire family knew that Amit never wanted to get married. So as to consider the scope of grant of bail under Section 438 Cr.P.C., on a query of the Court, learned counsel for the respondent-State, on instructions from ASI Mahinder Kumar, states that the gifts exchanged have already been returned. Cash amount amounting to Rs. 75,000/- given to Surender Arora, father of Amit, is yet to be returned/recovered. The other petitioners are relatives of Amit, the non-petitioner. It further transpires that the petitioners were allowed interim relief vide order dated 09.10.2009 to enable the parties to appear before the Permanent Lok Adalat to settle the disputes. The parties, however, have not been able to settle their disputes. Be that as it may, there is no allegation that the petitioners have tampered with the evidence during the period when they were given protection. It is further not the case of the prosecution that the petitioners Crl. Misc. No. M-27113 of 2009 3 interfered with the investigation process. Considering the totality of facts and circumstances; nature of offence; the stand of the investigating officer as given out in Court through the Public Prosecutor, in my considered opinion, no useful purpose would be served by custodial interrogation of the petitioners. Learned counsel for the petitioners has taken a very fair stand that a sum of Rs. 75,000/- shall be deposited with the Judicial Magistrate of the Illaqa within a period of 15 days from today. ` This petition is allowed on the following conditions:- i)the petitioners shall make themselves available for interrogation as and when required; ii)the petitioners 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; and iii)the petitioners shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court. The petitioners no. 1, 2 and 4 to 6 are directed to join investigation on 08.02.2010 and 09.02.2010 at 10.00 a.m. on each of the dates. The said persons shall be released on bail subject to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer on the conditions detailed above. It transpires that petitioner no. 3-Sapna Arora has gone abroad in connection with her studies. Learned counsel for the petitioners states that for the convenience of the investigating agency, Sapna Arora would come back to India for the facility of investigation and shall join investigation during first week of March. It is directed that the investigating agency shall Crl. Misc. No. M-27113 of 2009 4 join petitioner no. 3 in investigation when she comes back as undertaken by counsel on her behalf. The sum of Rs. 75,000/- deposited with the Illaqa Magistrate by the petitioners, as per undertaking given by the learned counsel, shall be dealt with by the Trial Court on conclusion of trial. The petition is allowed in the above terms and observations. 02.02.2010 (AJAI LAMBA) shivani JUDGE