(1) CRI.APP. 3863.2010 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 3863 OF 2010 1. Dattatraya S/o Jagganath Kale 2. Santosh S/o Vilas Dangat .. Applicants VERSUS The State of Maharashtra and anr. .. Respondents ... Mr. Sanket S. Kulkarni, Advocate h/f. Mr. D.B. Rode, Advocate for the Applicants Mr. B.J. Sonawane, APP for the respondent-State ... CORAM : V.R. KINGAONKAR, J. DATED : 4TH OCTOBER, 2010 ORAL ORDER:- 1. By this Application, the applicants are seeking anticipatory bail. 2. Heard learned Advocate and learned APP. 3. It appears from the recitals of the FIR that Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd. is a scheduled bank and used to give loan on hypothecation of gold. The gold ornaments used to be valued by authorised Valuer. It was found that Sadashiv Pandit and Dhananjay Pandit committed breach of the agreement with the bank as Valuers and issued improper and (2) CRI.APP. 3863.2010 incorrect certificates of valuation in favour of 22 borrowers. The applicants are two borrowers who had obtained loans. The applicant no.1 borrowed loan on basis of hypothecation of gold ornaments shown to be of 78 gm. Bank granted loan of Rs.45,000/- to him on basis of the report of Valuer. He did not repay the amount of loan and, therefore, the bank issued a notice of demand with further direction that if the amount is not paid within the given time then the gold ornaments would be sold in auction. Similarly, the applicant no.2 obtained loan from the said bank by pledging gold ornaments shown to be of 130 gm. weight. It was found that he had not repaid the amount of loan. He was also served with a notice of demand with further clarification that if the amount of loan is not repaid then the gold ornaments will be sold away. 4. It appears that the bank auctioned the gold ornaments in order to recover the loan amount. At the relevant time, the gold ornaments which were shown to be of 50 gm. weight by the applicant no.1 were found to be only of 15 gm. So also, the gold (3) CRI.APP. 3863.2010 ornaments shown by the applicant no.2 of 130 gm. weight were found to be only of 50 gm. There were similar cases of fraud committed by the borrowers with assistance or connivance of the authorised Valuer. 5. The learned Advocate for the applicants would submit that the auction was conducted without giving notice of auction proceedings to the applicants and, therefore, it cannot be said that the weight was not in accordance with the certificate issued by the Valuer. He submits that the ornaments were in the custody of the bank and were under the seal of the bank. At this juncture, the only question is whether the applicants are likely to be arrested without there being any foundation to the charge levelled against them. 6. It transpires from the investigation papers that not only the present applicants but several other borrowers had joined hands with the authorised Valuers of the bank for obtaining certificates to show excessive weight of the gold ornaments which (4) CRI.APP. 3863.2010 were pledged while obtaining loans. The applicants were prima facie not eligible to obtain such loan and perhaps took disadvantage of the Valuer's certificate which was prima facie incorrect. The bank is impersonal agency and has no business to prepare false record about weight of the gold ornaments which were sold in the auction. It prima facie appears that notices were issued to the applicants for the purpose of demand of the loan amount. 7. Considering the prima facie evidence found against the applicants and the fact that a panchanama was drawn at the time of auction, which indicates that the seal of the bank was intact before the auction proceedings were taken up. No substantial case is made out to infer that the arrest of the applicants is likely to be without any reason. The Application is, therefore, dismissed. The observations made in this order be not considered in any other case. Sd/- [V.R. KINGAONKAR, J.] arp