Crl. Misc. No. M-28374 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Case No. : Crl. Misc. No. M-28374 of 2009 Date of Decision : November 18, 2009 Baldev Singh .... Petitioner Vs. State of Punjab .... Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE L. N. MITTAL * * * Present : Mr. H. S. Gill, Senior Advocate with Mr. Manuj Nagrath, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala, AAG, Punjab. * * * L. N. MITTAL, J. (Oral) : By this common order, I am disposing of two petitions bearing Crl. Misc. No. M-27569 of 2009 filed by Randhir Singh alias Dhira and Crl. Misc. No. M-28374 of 2009 filed by Baldev Singh, both seeking bail in case FIR No.9 dated 18.03.2009, under Sections 489-A, 489- B, 489-C, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (in short – IPC) and Sections 3, 4, 5, 9 of Official Secrets Act, 1923, registered at Police Station State Special Narcotics Cell, Punjab, Amritsar. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the case file. According to prosecution version, secret information was received that Baldev Singh and Randhir Singh petitioners and Naib Singh Crl. Misc. No. M-28374 of 2009 2 non-petitioner were active in smuggling of counterfeit Indian currency at Indo-Pak border. There was also information that non-petitioners Naib Singh and Sukhdev Singh had gone to Pakistan many times with religious Jathas and came in contact with secret agencies of Pakistan. The information was that all the four accused were passing on secret information of India to Pakistani agencies. All the four accused were arrested on 18.03.2009. From Baldev Singh petitioner, a plastic bag containing photograph of main gate of Cantonment showing insignia of the unit and TAC number, three photographs of important points of surroundings of the Cantonment and five pages of restricted documents about training of armed regiment of infantry division of the Indian Army having important secret information were recovered, in addition to photocopy of bank passbook of army man Manjinder Singh. Petitioner Baldev Singh, after making disclosure statement, also got recovered from his house photographs of convoy of vehicles of Indian Army and one Pakistani sim card of mobile telephone. From petitioner Randhir Singh, organizational charts of different divisions of Indian Army showing their constitution (with restricted area) were recovered in a handbag. A map showing procedure to enter the enemy territory by the Indian Army (marked restricted) was also recovered, in addition to photographs of main gate of Cantonment and of the digging work going on around it. A pocket diary with telephone numbers of secret agencies of Pakistan and Dubai was also recovered. By making disclosure statement, Randhir Singh also got recovered a computer monitor, keyboard, CPU, mouse and UPS. One CD was found in CPU. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the petitioners had never gone to Pakistan. However, that is not even the allegation of the prosecution against these two petitioners. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the petitioners are in custody since 18.03.2009 i.e. for eight months. It was Crl. Misc. No. M-28374 of 2009 3 contended that the documents have been planted on the petitioners. No telephone call was made from sim card of Pakistan allegedly recovered from Baldev Singh. The documents recovered from the petitioners are also not significant. Learned State counsel contended that details of telephone calls, if any made from sim card of Pakistan recovered from Baldev Singh, could not be obtained for obvious reasons. It was also contended that the documents recovered from the petitioners are secret documents of Indian Army. The petitioners allegedly wanted to give secret information of Indian Army to Pakistan. Prima facie, at this stage, there appears to be no reason for false implication of the petitioners. In fact, the information was also about fake currency, but no fake currency was recovered from the petitioners, although some fake currency was recovered from non-petitioner Naib Singh. If the petitioners were to be framed up in a completely false case, then even fake currency could have been planted on them because secret information was also regarding fake currency. The documents recovered from the petitioners are secret documents of Indian Army. The action of the petitioners was allegedly threatening the security of the country. Keeping in view all the circumstances, but without meaning to comment anything on merits, in my considered opinion, the petitioners do not deserve the concession of bail. Both the petitions are accordingly dismissed. November 18, 2009 ( L. N. MITTAL ) monika JUDGE