IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-23618 of 2009 Date of Decision: October 26, 2009 Ashok … Petitioner Versus State of Haryana …Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE S.D. ANAND. Present: Mr. Vinod S. Bhardwaj, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. S.S. Pattar, Sr. DAG, Haryana. S.D. Anand, J The prosecution allegations are as under:- The complainant – Sri Ram and his brothers had sold certain land to a builder. The share of the complainant aforementioned, out of sale proceeds of the land, was deposited in ICICI Bank, Faridabad. The petitioner – accused was a tenant in the house of the respondent – complainant. The petitioner introduced one Pankaj, who was Manager of the City Bank, to the respondent – complainant and was able to persuade the latter to transfer Crl. Misc. No. M-23618 of 2009 his deposit of Rs.1,65,00,000/- from ICICI Bank to City Bank, Faridabad. The assurance held out was that the deposited in the latter bank would earn him higher interest etc. In that very process, the petitioner had obtained signatures of Sri Ram on various blank papers. The Branch Manager aforementioned had issued a cheque book in the name of the respondent – complainant. Some time thereafter, the petitioner – accused also obtained (from Branch Manager aforementioned) an ATM card in the name of the respondent-complainant and withdrew a total amount of Rs.69,23,000/- from the account of the complainant. The petitioner – accused also stole a cheque from the cheque book of the complainant and issued it in favour of one Hem Raj for a sum of Rs.13,00,000/-. The petitioner forged the signatures of the respondent – complainant thereupon. Beside it, the petitioner also issued three other cheques which bounced. In the context of the averments aforementioned, the learned counsel, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, invites the attention of this Court to Annexure P/2 which purports to be a partnership deed dated 24.10.2007. The petitioner-accused/Ashok Kumar and Devinder, a son of respondent/complainant Sri Ram are shown therein as partners. It is apparent from a perusal of Annexure P/2 2 Crl. Misc. No. M-23618 of 2009 that the entire capital investment for the running of the partnership was to be made by Devinder son of Sri Ram and no investment, at all, was to be made by the petitioner. It is also recorded under item No.10 that the investing partner had already handed over a cheque (No.559127 dated 11.05.2007) of Rs.13,00,000/- to Hem Raj. The plea raised thereby is that in view of the contents of item no.10, it is no longer open to the respondent – complainant to aver that his signatures on the cheque aforementioned had been forged by the petitioner – accused. The petitioner is in custody since March 2008. It will be long before the trial is concluded. Without any expression on merit of the case, it is ordered that the petitioner shall be released on bail to the satisfaction of the learned Trial Court. October 26, 2009 ( S.D. Anand ) vkd Judge 3