1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY AT GOA CRIMINAL APPLICATION(BAIL) NO. 290 OF 2009 Bhupendra T. Shukla Aged about 36 years, Residing at Bungalow No.84, Sector-1 Charkop, Kandivalli(E), Mumbai-400 067 at present in Judicial Custody at Panaji. ... Applicant versus The State (At the instance of Panaji Police Station). ... Respondent Shri A. Chaubey with Shri S. Pathak, Advocates for the Applicant. Ms. Winnie Coutinho, Public Prosecutor for the Respondent. CORAM : N. A. BRITTO, J. DATE : 29TH SEPTEMBER, 2009. JUDGMENT Heard learned Counsel on behalf of the applicant and the learned Public Prosecutor on behalf of the respondent. 2. The applicant herein was arrested on 7-8-2009 in Crime No.184/2009 of Panaji Police Station, under Sections 468, 471,379, 420 r/w Section 120(B) I.P.C., and was initially remanded to Police custody, and from 2 19-8-2009 has been in judicial custody. His application for bail filed on 3-9-2009 came to be rejected by the learned Sessions Judge on 7-9-2009, and as such the applicant is before this Court seeking bail. 3. On the basis of information that certain suspicious persons were residing in Hotel Solmar, the Police Inspector arrested five persons from Hotel Solmar, and one of them is Rahul, s/o Rakesh Shetty, and when the said persons were interrogated they could not give any satisfactory answers, and as such were placed under arrest. On the basis of information provided by another accused, one of the said five persons, namely Hukum Singh Rao that the applicant herein had met him, the applicant came to be arrested from Ashok Plaza Hotel and in his room a bag was found with certain documents, namely credit/debit cards, details of which have been mentioned in para 5 of the reply filed. It is the case of the prosecution that the applicant along with his other gang members visited Casino Royale and Casino Carnival and used the said forged credit cards and siphoned lakhs of Rupees. It is also stated that the applicant along with his other gang members has fraudulently obtained PAN cards and driving license in different names having their photographs which they have used to gain entries in the said Casinos, and similarly they have prepared forged credit cards in different names and making use of writer copied the stolen data in those cards, and thereafter used the said cards as genuine. It is also stated that a letter has been sent to the Chief Commissioner 3 of Income Tax, Panaji, to verify whether the PAN cards are genuine or otherwise, and if so what are the documents provided by them and the required information is awaiting which will help further investigations of the case. It is also stated that Police has sent letters to the Managers of Casino Royale and Casino Carnival and the required information is awaited. It is also stated that CCTV of both the Casinos is collected by the Police in order to establish that the offence has been committed by all the accused persons. 4. When the bail application was taken up for hearing on 24-9-2009, the learned Public Prosecutor was asked whether any of the cards found in possessions of the present applicant was used by him, and today, a communication from Casino Carnival has been placed before the Court to say that the credit card mentioned in para 5(g) of the reply was used by the said accused Rahul Shetty but when a further question was posed to the learned Public Prosecutor as to which amount among the three amounts mentioned in the communication was paid through the said card, learned Public Prosecutor has not been able to provide any answer much less a satisfactory answer except to say that the crime involved is a white collar crime for which sufficient time would be required to carry out the investigations. The applicant has been sufficiently long under detention, first in Police custody, thereafter in judicial custody and now for over 51 days, and within another 9 days or so would be entitled to bail for default as submitted by the learned Counsel 4 appearing on behalf of the applicant. No much progress appears to have been done in the investigations inspite of the fact that the authorities and establishments mentioned in para 3 hereinabove are within municipal limits. In fact they are within a stone's throw from the Police Station. 5. Be that as it may, it is not the case of the said Casino Carnival Resort that the said amount paid by the said card has not been credited to the account of the said Casino Carnival. The said communication shows that the said card mentioned under para 5(g) which was in the name of the said Rahul Shetty was indeed used by him as it can be seen that it was signed by Rahul Shetty, and if that be so, it would be difficult to come to a conclusion at this stage that the said credit/debit card mentioned under para 5(g) in the name of Rahul Shetty was a fake one, as earlier suspected. 6. Although, the reply shows that CCTV footages from both the Casinos were collected not even a statement has been made in the reply that the applicants were otherwise seen in either of the said Casinos, gambling. One need not accept the contention of the applicant that the said bag was handed over to him by one of the said five persons, namely Varun Agarwal at this stage, for ultimately the fact remains that it was found in his possession but as evidence prima facie shows at this stage, the only card which was used, therefrom, there is nothing to suspect that it was fake. 5 7. The applicant has been in Police custody from 7-8-2009 to 19-8-2009, and thereafter in judicial custody. All offences alleged against the present applicant are punishable with imprisonment of not more than seven years as rightly submitted by learned Counsel on behalf of the applicant. Neither further detention nor release on bail of the applicant can come in the way of further investigations, even in case they are sought to be carried out leisurely. 8. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, including the period during which the applicant has been in detention, the applicant is entitled to be admitted to bail, and shall be so released, upon execution of a bond of Rs.20,000/- with two sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Sessions Judge, Panaji. N. A. BRITTO, J. RD