Criminal Misc. No. M-30116 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No. M-30116 of 2010 Date of decision : 10.05.2011 Sukhwant Singh ....Petitioner V/s State of Punjab ....Respondent BEFORE : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. C.M. Munjal, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Shilesh Gupta, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab. RAJAN GUPTA J. (ORAL) This is a petition filed under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking pre-arrest bail in a case registered against the petitioner vide FIR No. 104 dated 16.09.2010 under Section 420 IPC at Police Station Bhikhi. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that all the persons who were sent abroad are still living there and have not lodged any complaint. According to him, complaint has been lodged by parents of said persons in order to extract money from the petitioner. He submits that petitioner is not involved in any manner in cheating or fraud and thus he is entitled to concession of pre-arrest bail. Learned State counsel has opposed the prayer for bail. He has referred to short reply by way of affidavit of Tarsem Singh, DSP (HQ) Mansa. He submits that complaint was lodged by Gurjit Singh s/o Gurdial Criminal Misc. No. M-30116 of 2010 2 Singh who stated that he was an agriculturist and his son Gurdeep Singh wanted to go abroad. They contacted the petitioner who told them that he can arrange good jobs in England for youths in Punjab. He also made him talk to his daughter Hardeep Kaur (allegedly living in England) who assured them that good job would be arranged in England. Resultantly, petitioner took `7,00,000/- from Gurdeep Singh, `8,20,000/- from Nazam Singh and `5,00,000/- from Baljit Kaur for sending them to England. However, instead of sending the said persons to England, they were sent to Cyprus. During investigation, the investigating agency recorded the statement of Baljit Kaur (Annexure R-4/T) who narrated her tale of woe after being sent to Cyprus. She stated to the police that she was able to come back from that country with great difficulty. In view of nature of allegations levelled in the FIR, I am of the considered view that petitioner is not entitled to concession of pre-arrest bail. The petition is devoid of merit and is hereby dismissed. May 10, 2011 (RAJAN GUPTA) Ajay JUDGE