IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Dated: Nainital: the 9th Day of June 2008 Criminal Second Bail application no. 447 of 2008 Order on the Bail application of accused. CRIMINAL SIDE Anil Chhetri S/o Sri Santosh Singh, R/o Haripur Kalan, Police Station Raiwala, District Dehradun. … Applicant Versus State of Uttarakhand … Opposite party Arising out of case crime no. 305/2006 (Sessions Trial no. 126/06) U/S 302 I.P.C. Police Station- Rishikesh, District Dehradun. Hon’ble Dharam Veer, J. Heard Sri Siddhartha Sah, Adv. holding brief of Sri Ram Ji Srivastava, learned counsel for the applicant/ accused and Sri Prabhakar Joshi, learned Brief Holder for the State. This is the second bail application moved by the applicant/ accused. The first bail application was dismissed for want of prosecution by this Court on 1st August 2007. In brief, the prosecution case is this that there was discord in between the applicant/accused and his wife Smt. Bhagirathi (deceased) just after their marriage and in continuation of this dispute in the night of 14th July 2006 a quarrel had taken place in between them. In the next morning dead body of the deceased Bhagirathi was found lying on the bed inside the locked house. It is alleged that the door of the room was locked by the accused/applicant from outside in the fateful night. A First Information Report was lodged by Jeet Bahadur (brother of the deceased) against the applicant/accused in Police Station Rishikesh, District Dehradun on 15.07.2006 at 10:30 a.m. that the accused had committed murder of his sister Bhagirathi. In the postmortem report, copy of which is filed alongwith the bail application, the cause of the death is shown asphyxia due to throttling. A certified copy of the oral evidence of PW-2 Roop Singh recorded before the Trial Court is also annexed with the bail application. This witness is the neighbour of the deceased, who has 2 specifically stated before the Trial Court that the applicant/ accused used to quarrel with his wife Bhagirathi. In the evening of 14th July, 2006 when he came to his residence, he saw that the accused/applicant Anil Chhetri was quarreling with his wife. He also heard noise from inside the room that the applicant/accused was quarreling with his wife Bhagirathi. In the very night at about 12:00- 12:30 a.m. when he came outside his room, then he saw the accused/ applicant locking his room from outside. On the next day he heard that Smt. Bhagirathi has died. Statement of this witness was recorded in the Trial Court on 21.03.2007. Learned counsel for the accused/applicant, on the basis of the above evidence, has submitted that there is no direct evidence against the accused/applicant to connect him in commission of the aforesaid crime. On the basis of the evidence discussed above, learned Brief Holder for the State Sri Prabhakar Joshi has submitted that chain of the circumstances is complete against the accused/applicant in commission of the aforesaid crime. From the evidence discussed above and the evidence collected by the Investigating Officer during investigation it has come out that it is only the accused/applicant who has committed murder of his wife. He has further submitted that evidence before the Trial Court is continuing and the trial is going to be concluded in a very short span of time. After considering all the facts and circumstances and without expressing any opinion about the final merits of the case, the Court is of the view that the accused/applicant does not deserve bail at this stage. Accordingly, the II bail application is rejected. (Dharam Veer, J.) 09.06.2008 NCM: