Crl. Misc No. M-31500 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc No. M-31500 of 2009 Date of decision : 20.11.2009 Tejwinder Singh ....Petitioner V/s State of Punjab ....Respondent BEFORE : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. M.S. Sidhu, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Shailesh Gupta, DAG Punjab. RAJAN GUPTA J. (ORAL) This is a petition under Section 438 Cr.P.C. seeking anticipatory bail to the petitioner in a case registered vide FIR No. 54 dated 19.09.2009 under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC at Police Station Koom Kalan, District Ludhiana. The allegation in the FIR is that the petitioner got duplicate matriculation certificate issued in the name of Jatinder Singh on the basis of which he got a ration card as well as voter identity card prepared in the name of Jatinder Singh. The petitioner, thereafter, applied for passport and got the passport issued in the name of Jatinder Singh. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the petitioner is in fact Jatinder Singh and his name is not Tejwinder Singh. According to the counsel, no offence has been committed by the petitioner as he got all the documents prepared in his own name and, thus, the passport was legitimately issued in his favour. According to him, passport has been duly Crl. Misc No. M-31500 of 2009 2 verified by the police as well. He has thus, prayed that the petitioner deserves the concession of pre-arrest bail. Learned counsel for the State has, however, opposed the prayer for bail and has submitted that name of the petitioner is actually Tejwinder Singh. He, however, got a duplicate matriculation certificate issued in the name of Jatinder Singh, who is already abroad. He, thereafter, prepared certain other documents and got the passport issued in the name of Jatinder Singh. According to the counsel, the petitioner wanted to use the duplicate passport in order to go abroad. This entire modus operandi came to light when the person with the name of Jatinder Singh came back from abroad and applied for entering the name of his wife in the passport. The passport authority discovered that the said person already had a passport issued in his name and, thus, enquiry was made and instant FIR was registered. I have heard counsel for the parties. It appears that a duplicate passport was issued in the name of Jatinder Singh. This is despite the fact that already a passport in the name of Jatinder Singh S/o Gurdeep Singh was in existence. Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, I am of the considered view that petitioner is not entitled to concession of pre- arrest bail. In fact custodial interrogation of the petitioner may be necessary for taking the investigation to its logical end. I thus find no merit in the petition. The petition is dismissed being devoid of merit. 20.11.2009 (RAJAN GUPTA) Ajay JUDGE