MP 1 BA985_11 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.985 OF 2011 Sajjan Khan Latif Khan ... Applicant Versus The State of Maharashtra ... Respondent Mr. M. I. Y. Solkar, Advocate for the Applicant. Mr. Y. M. Nakhwa, APP for the Respondent State. CORAM : J. H. BHATIA, J. DATE : 15TH NOVEMBER 2011 P. C. : The applicant seeks to be released on bail in crime N0.103 of 2010 registered with Kasa Police Station, District Thane for the offences punishable under Sections 395, 342 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. 2. Applicant Sajjan Khan was working as a driver on tempo No.GJ-15- Z-1239 owned by one Baherulolum H. Shaikh of Vapi. The said tempo was used for transportation of goods from one place to another. On 27.12.2010, 4.5 ton of brass scrap was loaded in the said tempo and was to be transported to GIDC Vapi. On 28.12.2010, the applicant Sajjan Khan, who was the driver of the tempo, lodged a report at Kasa Police Station. According to him, when the tempo loaded with the scrap had reached Medvan Ghat at about 1.45 a.m., two motor-cycles came in front of the tempo. By each motor-cycle, three persons were traveling. They obstructed the tempo. Two persons from one of the motor-cycles entered into the tempo from the driver's side and other two persons entered from the cleaner's side. They overpowered the driver and the cleaner and made them sit on the motor-cycles along with two persons each and two of the culprits boarded the tempo and escaped with the said tempo loaded with the scrap. Hands and legs of Sajjan Khan were tied and he was thrown away while the cleaner was also thrown away at the distance of 2-3 kms from the spot of the incident. On the basis of the report lodged by the MP 2 BA985_11 present applicant, the offence came to be registered against the unknown persons. Later on, police arrested one Sinku Kumar who disclosed that the present applicant had joined hands with them and a conspiracy was hatched to commit a dacoity and the present applicant had agreed to handover the possession of the tempo without any resistance. Most of the stolen property were recovered from Sinku Kumar. Some of the accused persons were arrested. One of the accused is said to be absconding. 3. The prosecution case against the present applicant is based on the statement of Sinku Kumar who is the co-accused. According to the prosecution, the present applicant was using mobile number 93286 47728 and he was in contact with accused Raju and Pandu who were using mobile number 99747 06181 and 86001 51518 respectively. For this purpose, data has been collected from the service provider Bharti Airtel. The data only shows that from mobile phone No.93286 47728, other two numbers were contacted on 26th, 27th and 28th December, 2010. However, the Investigating Officer has not collected any document to show that the mobile number 93286 47728 was allotted to the present applicant or that he was using that mobile number. Even though his employer's statement was recorded, the said employer also did not disclose that this particular mobile number was being used by the applicant. Even though period of more than ten months is passed after the arrest of the applicant, the Investigating Officer did not bother to collect this basic information to connect the applicant with the crime. Thus, the whole case is based only on the statement of the co-accused. 4. In view of the above circumstances, the applicant be released on his executing P.R. of Rs.20,000/- with one or two sureties to make up the amount with condition that he shall attend Kasa Police Station on first Sunday of every month till the end of the trial. (J. H. BHATIA, J)