1 Cri-A-5501-10.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Mhi CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 5501 OF 2010 Ms. Parmeet @ Sonia Kaur Arora ... Applicant Vs. State of Maharashtra. ... Respondent Mr. A.P.Mundarg, i/b. Mr. Shounak Mehta, Advocates, for the applicant.. Mr.Y.M.Nakhwa, APP, for the respondent.- State. Mr. P.R.dave, Advocate for the Intervenor. CORAM: J.H.BHATIA,J. DATE : 22nd December, 2010. P.C. 1. Heard the learned Counsel for the applicant and the learned APP, who is assisted by Mr. P.R.Dave, Advocate, representing the complainant. 2. The applicant is arrested in Crime No.322 registered at Amboli Police Station for the offnces under Sections 465, 467, 468,470,471, 420 read with Section 120B of IPC. The report of the offence was lodged by one Parag Sanghavi. As per the report, Zeenat Parag, wife of the complainant and her friends, used to have kitty parties. The present applicant also used to participate in said kitty parties. She represented that the Company "Earn & Rain Financial Services" was affiliated to HDFC Bank and the said Company used to deal in 2 Cri-A-5501-10.sxw investments in Mutual Funds, LIC and other policies. Relying on her representation, from 2008 to April 2010, total amount of Rs.60 lakh was given by cheques favouring Earn & Rain Financial Services. The amount was to be invested with HDFC Bank and other Financial Institutions. The Chartered Accountant of the complainant required the original receipts of the said investments for the purpose of showing the same in Income-tax returns. At that stage, original receipts were sought, but one Narayan Thakur and one Sudha gave them photocopies of receipts. On enquiry with HDFC, it was revealed that those photocopies were not genuine and they were fake receipts. In view of this, the report was lodged with the police. The present applicant and one Sudha @ Chandi have been arrested. During investigation, it was revealed that one Sudhir Nair is the proprietor of Earn & Rain Financial Services. All the cheques issued by the wife and other family members of the complainant in the name of Earn & Rain Financial Services were in fact deposited in the accounts of Earn & Rain Financial services and the amounts were also credited in the accounts. According to prosecution, the accounts of Earn & Rain Financial Services were used by the present applicant only for the purpose of encashment of certain cheques for which she used to give some commission to Sudhir Nair and therefore, the present applicant is a real culprit. 3 Cri-A-5501-10.sxw 3. The learned Counsel for the applicant contends that the applicant is a lady. She has to look after the children and, according to him, as per the records of Earn & Rain Financial Services, three cheques worth Rs.9,80,000/- were issued in the name of the applicant and that amount has been received by her as per the said bank account. The learned Counsel contends that the applicant is willing to deposit the said amount. He also pointed out that no action has been taken against the real culprits. The learned APP and the learned Advocate representing the complainant vehemently opposed the application. According to them, the present applicant is the real culprit and previously also one case under Sections 420, and 467 of IPC was registered against her. 4. As far as the previous case being Crime No.67 of 2009 registered at the NRI Sagari Police Station Nerul is concerned, that has been quashed by this Court by order dated 27.7.2010 in Criminal Application No.2599 of 2010. Therefore, that case cannot be taken into consideration against the present applicant while deciding the present applicant. 5. On perusal of the record, it appears that the present applicant represented to the wife and other family members of the complainant that Earn & Rain Financial services dealing in investments in different Mutual Funds, LIC, etc. 4 Cri-A-5501-10.sxw and that said Earn & Ran Financial services is affiliated to HDFC Bank and relying on that representation, the family members of the complainant issued different cheques worth Rs.60 lakh in favour of Earn & Rain Financial Services and those cheques were handed over to the present applicant as a representative of Earn & Rain Financial Services. Record reveals that each of those cheques was in fact deposited in the account of Earn & Rain Financial services and the amount was credited in its accounts with different Banks. From the statement of Sudhir Nair recorded by the police, it appears that Sudhir Nair is admittedly owner of Earn & Ran Financial services. According to him, he had issued 3 cheques worth Rs.9,80,000/- in favour of the present applicant and on the basis of the same, the applicant had withdrawn amount of Rs.9,80,000/- from the accounts of Earn & Rain Financial Services. According to him, he had encashed remaining cheques but that amount was paid to the present applicant and he received only commission of Rs.10,000/- or Rs.20,000/- for each cheque of Rs.5 lakh to Rs.10 lakh. It is also stated by some witnesses from Banks that Sudhir Nair and the present applicant used to go to Banks together for the encashment of those cheques. 6. Taking into consideration the material collected by police, it appears that out of the amount of Rs.60 lakh received by Earn & Rain Financial services 5 Cri-A-5501-10.sxw belonging to Sudhir Nair, an amount of Rs.9,80,000/- has been passed on to the present applicant. About remaining amount of Rs.50,20,000/-, there s no record that amount has been actually received by the present applicant. That amount has been actually received by Sudhir Nair as a proprietor of Earn & Rain Financial Services and he has no document to show that he had handed over that money to the applicant. It is surprising that the Investigating Officer has not taken any action against Sudhir Nair. Prima facie, he appears to be the brain behind the said offence and he appears to have received the major amount out of Rs.60 lakh . But he is shown as the witness in the case. Another surprising fact is that the learned Counsel for the complainant was also trying to shield the said Sudhir Nair during the argument before this Court indicating that the present applicant is a real culprit. It is also surprising that Narayan Thakur, who had allegedly given photocopies of the fake receipts is also made a witness and not an accused. 7. Taking into consideration the above facts and circumstances and in view of the statement made by the learned Counsel for the applicant that she is willing to deposit the amount, I pass the following order :- Subject to the applicant depositing amount of Rs.9,80,000/- with the trial Court, the applicant be released on her executing P.R. of Rs.50,000/- with 6 Cri-A-5501-10.sxw one or two solvent sureties in the like amount with further condition that she shall not misuse the bail and shall attend Amboli Police Station on every Thursday between 4 to 6 p.m. till the end of the trial. (J.H.BHATIA,J.)