1 aba402.11.odt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH AT NAGPUR CRIMINAL APPLICATION (ABA) NO.402 OF 2011 (HARAPRASAD KRISHNACHANDRA TRIPATHI //VS// STATE OF MAH. THR. PSO BUTIBORI, DIST. NAGPUR) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, Court's or Judge's orders appearances, Court's orders of directions and Registrar's orders - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mr.R.S.Akbani, Advocate for Applicant. Mr.V.A.Thakre, A.P.P. for Respondent/State. Mr.M.B.Naidu, Advocate to assist the prosecution. CORAM : M.N.GILANI, J. DATED : DECEMBER 17, 2011. Heard both sides. Mr. Haraprasad Tripathi-applicant herein is seeking directions to order his release on bail in the event of his arrest in Crime No.187 of 2011, registered with Police Station, Butibori, Nagpur for the offence punishable under Section 407 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Spentex Industries Limited deals in manufacturing of yarn and have their unit in MIDC area, Butibori, Nagpur. The applicant is Assistant Officer (Raw Material). In the process of manufacturing yarn at various stages waste material is left behind. Since such waste material also fetches value it is required to be accounted for. All entries and transactions are computerized and the officers are given passwords to gain access to a particular file. There is system of weighing the waste material and transporting it out side the factory premises. Whenever the waste material is generated/piled up computer entry of it is made and whenever it is sent outside the factory premises, the corresponding entry is also effected. This gives an idea as to how much quantity of generated waste material is sent out. 2 aba402.11.odt A register called as SAP Sale record for the year 2010-11 was checked and it was found that 185 tonnes of waste material was not accounted for that means misappropriated. It was noticed that by using password of Shri Amrendra Kumar, Senior Officer (Mixing) the present applicant used to have access to the particular file and used to alter the entries relating to stock of waste material in order to facilitate unauthorised transporting of a sizable quantity of waste material outside the factory premises. After it is noticed Mr. Rajkumar, Senior Manager of the company lodged first information report and on that basis offence came to be registered. The learned counsel for the applicant contended that except himself four other officials of the company were arrested and released on bail and during interrogation nothing surfaced. Second contention is that the allegations levelled against him are baseless and false. There was no misappropriation of any sort of any quantity of waste materials. There are several checks and cross-checks when anything is to be transported outside the factory premises. The reason for lodging false report against him is that he had lodged report against the Senior Officer of the company for misappropriation and this is nothing but a counter blow. According to him, the accused would suffer irreparable loss because of illegal and unwarranted arrest. He has been all the time available for being interrogated by the police and as such his police custody is not at all required. The prosecution has relied upon the following circumstances to oppose the application for anticipatory bail : Firstly, it is stated that during investigation it is revealed that because of misappropriation of salable waste the company had suffered loss to the tune of Rs.one crore. 3 aba402.11.odt The investigating agency could find out the names of the person to whom the misappropriated yarn was sold. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor made available the case diary of investigation for perusal of this Court. It appears that before arriving at the conclusion of the involvement of the accused in the offence of misappropriation, records like daily waste entry report file, invoices, cross-check entry register at weigh bridge, verified gate passes, truck numbers and number of bales in each invoice were checked. Security guard register and system of waste picking and generation was also checked. It was noticed that security guard entry register for number of bales from 21st June to 30th November, 2010 was found missing. It is the prosecution case that deliberately this was destroyed or thrown away. During particular period it was noticed that out of 67 number of trucks which had carried bales there was only account for 36 trucks. Thus, there was mismatching. The investigation revealed that the applicant was maintaining saving bank account with Kotak Mahindra Bank, Butibori. During the period from April, 2010 to November, 2011 a huge transaction of deposits and withdrawals were noticed. The entire turnover comes to Rs.32,59,000/- approximately. This was tried to be explained by the learned counsel for the applicant by saying that the applicant had sold his property of Rs. nine lac. These frequent deposits and withdrawals of the amount in the sum of Rs. one lac, two lac or more than two lac do not indicate that this happened because of the sale of property worth Rs.nine lac. Considering the seriousness of charge and the alleged modus-operandi adopted by the applicant his custodial interrogation appears imperative for effective and thorough investigation. 4 aba402.11.odt In that light of the matter, the learned Additional Sessions Judge seems to be right in rejecting the application for grant of anticipatory bail. The same course has to follow now. The application is rejected. JUDGE RR..