1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JUTISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 4632 OF 2009 Shriram Narayan Patil .... Applicant. V/s State of Maharashtra ..... Respondent. Mr. H.S. Deshpande for the applicant. Mrs. P.P. Shinde, APP for the State. CORAM: V.M. KANADE, J. DATE : 7TH NOVEMBER, 2009 P.C.: 1. Heard the learned Counsel for the applicant and the learned APP for the State. 2. Applicant apprehends arrest in connection with the complaint which is filed by one Gurunath Patil in the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate and pursuant to which an order was passed under section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code by the learned Magistrate and in view of the said order an offence was registered at Padgha Police Station under sections 420, 467, 468, 401, 506(2) read with section 34 of the Indian Penal 2 Code. 3. The case of the complainant in the said complaint is that the present applicant had misused the blank cheque which was signed by the complainant. According to the complainant, the applicant herein filled in the details in the said cheque in his own handwriting and, thereby, misused the cheque and withdrew an amount of Rs 4,10,500/-. 4. The learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant submits that the applicant had received an amount of Rs 6 lakhs from Reliance Company which was deposited by him in his own account. According to the applicant, he had given an amount of Rs 4,50,000/- to the complainant. The complainant informed the applicant that he was to receive Rs 5 lakhs from Reliance Company as compensation towards the acquisition of his land and he promised to repay the said amount of Rs 4,50,000/-, after receiving the said amount of compensation of Rs 5 lakhs. The learned Counsel for the applicant submitted that the complainant had issued two receipts which were signed on the revenue stamp in the presence of two witnesses for having received an amount of Rs 3 lakhs and further amount of Rs 1,50,000/- on 19/3/2008 and 7/3/2008 respectively. The 3 learned Counsel for the applicant submitted that xerox copies of these receipts have been annexed to the present application. He submitted that, however, after the complainant received an amount of Rs 5 lakhs from Reliance Company, he deposited the same in his account and he withdrew the amount of Rs 50,000/- and balance amount was withdrawn by the applicant as the bearer cheque was given by the complainant to him. Counsel for the applicant submitted that, thereafter, it appears that the Reliance Company had demanded Rs 5 lakhs from the complainant on the ground that the said amount was wrongly paid to him and, thereafter, as a counter-blast, the present complaint was filed by the complainant. The learned Counsel for the complainant submitted that, in any event, custodial interrogation of the applicant is not necessary. There is sufficient material on record to indicate that the complaint is false and frivolous and that the cheque which was given to the applicant was admittedly signed by the complainant. 5. There is much substance in the submissions made by the learned Counsel for the applicant. Prima facie, in my view, allegations made in the complaint do not appear to be true. In any event, complainant has admitted that the said cheque which was given to the applicant was signed by him. That being the 4 position, ingredients of section 420 and 406 are clearly not attracted. Further, from the documents which are annexed to the application, particularly Bank’s Statement, it does appear that an amount of Rs 3 lakh was withdrawn by the applicant on 19/3/2008 and on the same day the said amount was paid to the complainant and receipts to that effect have been given by him in the presence of two other witnesses, though the complainant disputed the said receipts. Now the question as to whether the complainant had signed those receipts or not can be ascertained by the Police by sending the said receipts to the handwriting experts and for that purpose, custodial interrogation of the applicant is not necessary. Section 438 of Criminal Procedure Code was inserted in the Code in order to protect the individuals from undergoing harassment and detention in jail on account of false and frivolous complaints. It is no doubt true that investigation is still going on and in order to ensure that investigation is not hampered, the protection can be given to the applicant for limited period so that if some further material is found against the present applicant, the same can be taken into consideration by the Court when he applies for regular bail after filing of the charge-sheet. 6. In these circumstances, therefore, applicant, in the 5 event of his arrest in connection with C.R. No.M-13 of 2008 registered at Padgha Police Station for the offence punishable under sections 420, 467, 468, 401, 120, 506(2) read with section 34, be released on bail in the sum of Rs 5000/- with one or two sureties in the like amount. Applicant, however, shall report to the concerned Police Station for a period of three days from 9/11/2009 between 7.00 a.m to 9.00 a.m. The said protection is granted till the filing of the charge-sheet and, thereafter, applicant shall approach the appropriate court for regular bail within 15 days after filing of the charge-sheet. 7. Application is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. (V.M. KANADE, J.)