1 mpt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 3929 OF 2007 i) Mukeshbhai Babubhai Patel ii) Uday Naranbhai Patel iii) Ketan Bhikhubhai Patel .. Applicants versus Union Territory of Daman & Anr. .. Respondents ... Mr.H.H. Ponda for the applicant. Mr.D.A. Nalavade for responent no.1. Mrs.M.M. Deshmukh APP for the State. CORAM : D.G.KARNIK, J DATED : 8th January 2008 P.C.: 1. Heard learned counsel for the applicant and learned APP for the State. 2. The applicants were arrested on 14th August 2007 and are presently in judicial custody in connection with an offence registered with Navi Daman Police station under C.R.no. 98 of 2007 punishable under section 302 r/w sec.34 of the IPC. 2 Investigation has since been completed and charge-sheet has been filed in the Sessions Court at Daman. 3. An application made by the applicant before the Sessions Court for bail was rejected by an order dated 21st October 2007 on the grounds that (i)Offence alleged was serious (ii) there was a possibility of applicants absconding and (iii) Possibility of the applicants tampering with the evidence, could not be ruled out. Reasons given in paragraph no.3 of the order of Sessions Court are quoted below:- "The alleged offence against the accused/applicants of murder is serious. As seen from the police papers accused/applicants come from Zarkhand, Bihar and Gujarat. Many cases in which accused hail from Zarkhand, Bihar and Gujarat are pending since police are unable to procure their presence for one or the other ground. If the accused/applicants are released, they may abscond thereby prosecution case will be hampered. So far tampering of evidence and witness is concerned, only because 3 chargesheet is filed, it cannot be said that point of tampering is out of question. Tampering of evidence and witness will continue till the hearing of case. Considering all these aspects I find not proper to release the accused/applicants on bail. Consequently application will have to be rejected." 4. It is no doubt true that the offence alleged is serious in nature. However on going through the copies of the papers filed along with the charge-sheet it is clear that there is no eye witness to the crime. Accusition against the applicant nos.1 to 3 is based upon the statement made by co-accused at the time of recovery under section 27. There appears to be no other evidence against applicants. Applicant no.3 himself had informed the concerned police officer on telephone that the deceased was found lying in an injured condition. 5. As far as the possibility of applicants absconding, learned counsel for the applicants stated that applicants have permanent place of residence at the addresses mentioned in the application. Applicant nos.1 and 3 reside in the Union territory Dadra Nagar Haveli where the offence is alleged to 4 have committed. Applicant no.2 stays in the neighbouring state of Gujarat. They are all employees of Dhru Cable Network which manages the cable network the territory and in my view the apprehension of the applicants absconding is not real. There is no ground for rejecting the bail by applying a general rule that all persons residing outside the Union Territory, where the offence is committed, are likely to abscond. Their presence at trial can be ensured by imposing suitable condition of periodic reporting at the police station, pending trial. 6. So far as the allegation of tempering of witnesses is concerned, the allegations are only vague. Learned APP was unable to point out any material to substantiate allegation of possibility of tampering of the evidence. In fact, he fairly submitted that there is no material about the possibility of the tampering. 7. Taking into consideration the nature of the offence against the applicants and the fact that applicants have a permanent place of residence and are regular employees of a cable network operating in the area and applicant no.3 himself was an informant of the alleged offence, and also taking into 5 consideration the fact that the investigation is complete and charge-sheet has been filed, I am inclined to grant them bail subject to certain conditions. Hence I pass the following order:- O R D E R O R D E R O R D E R . All the applicants are released on bail on personal bond of Rs.One lakh with each of the applicants furnishing two sureties of Rs.50,000/- each subject to the condition that the applicant shall report the concerned police station once in a fortnight i.e on 1st or 2nd and 16th or 17th of British calendar month. . Application is disposed of accordingly. (D.G. KARNIK, J)