IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE K.T.SANKARAN THURSDAY, THE 25TH JUNE 2009 / 4TH ASHADHA 1931 Bail Appl..No. 3169 of 2009() ----------------------------- CRIME NO.274/2009 OF THRISSUR TOWN WEST POLICE STATION APPLICANT/ACCUSED ------------------------------------- A.J.VARGHESE, AGED 58 YEARS, S/O.A.V.JACOB, ARAKKAL HOUSE, PERAMANGALAM P.O., THRISSUR DISTRICT. BY ADV. SRI.P.VIJAYA BHANU SRI.VIPIN NARAYAN RESPONDENT(S): COMPLAINANT -------------------------- STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM, REPRESENTING THE S.I OF POLICE, THRISSUR TOWN WEST POLICE STATION. PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SRI.K.S.SIVAKUMAR THIS BAIL APPLICATION HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 25/06/2009, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING: K.T.SANKARAN, J. ----------------------------- B.A.No.3169 of 2009 ----------------------------- Dated this the 25th day of June, 2009 ORDER This is an application for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The petitioner is the accused in Crime No.274 of 2009 of Thrissur Town West Police Station. 2. The offence alleged against the petitioner is under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. 3. The crime was registered on the basis of a petition dated 22nd February 2009 sent by Nisha Gautam, Lucknow, to the Director General of Police, Thiruvananthapuram. In that petition, the defacto complainant stated that she had deposited a sum of Rs.4 lakhs in September-October 2006 in the firm Zyberstock Investments run by the petitioner at Ayyanthole, Thrissur. It is further stated that the petitioner gave a written assurance regarding the scheme called GRS (Guaranteed Return Scheme). It is further stated that after November 2006, the defacto complainant has not received profit as per the assurance given by the petitioner. All her efforts to get back the money failed. The request in the letter is as follows: “So I request you to please file an F.I.R. Against BA No.3169/2009 2 Mr.A.J.Varghese on the basis of enclosed documents and take the necessary actions to get return my balance amount (see Enclosure-3) from Mr.Varghese.” The details of the amount paid are also shown in the petition in a tabular form. Five entries are made therein which show the details of the online transfer from the account to the petitioner to the account No.001005004392 in ICICI Bank. 4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner, who is running the concern Zyberstock Investments was acting only as an agent of Select Stock Brokers Ltd., Ernakulam. For registration, a nominal amount of Rs.150/- was being received by the petitioner from the customer. The amount of the customer was being deposited in the account of Select Stock Brokers Ltd. Account No.001005004392 belongs, according to the petitioner, to the Select Stock Brokers Ltd. The petitioner states that he has not received any amount as alleged. Reliance is also placed on Annexure A power of attorney executed by the defacto complainant in favour of the petitioner authorising the petitioner to trade on behalf of the defacto complainant in Stock Exchanges through her trading account with Select Stock Brokers Ltd. The counsel pointed out that the investigating agency has not made any investigation with respect to the deposit of the amount in Select Stock Brokers Ltd. in order to find BA No.3169/2009 3 out as to who really received the money and to which account the defacto complainant had sent amounts. 5. I have perused the CD file. The submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioner that no investigation was seen made in the above lines appears to be correct. 6. Taking into account the facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of the offence and other circumstances, I am of the view that anticipatory bail can be granted to the petitioner. There will be a direction that in the event of the arrest of the petitioner, the officer in charge of the police station shall release him on bail for a period of one month on his executing bond for Rs.50,000/- with two solvent sureties for the like amount to the satisfaction of the officer concerned, subject to the following conditions: a) The petitioner shall report before the investigating officer between 9 A.M. and 11 A.M. on all Mondays, till the final report is filed or until further orders; b) The petitioner shall appear before the investigating officer for interrogation as and when required; c) The petitioner shall not try to influence the prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence; d) The petitioner shall not commit any offence or indulge in any prejudicial activity while on bail; e) On the expiry of the period mentioned above or even before that period, the petitioner shall surrender before the Magistrate BA No.3169/2009 4 concerned and seek regular bail; f) In case of breach of any of the conditions mentioned above, the bail shall be liable to be cancelled. The Bail Application is allowed to the extent indicated above. K.T.SANKARAN, JUDGE csl BA No.3169/2009 5 K.T.SANKARAN, JUDGE csl BA No.3169/2009 6