1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 4772 OF 2009 Mr.Pankaj Darshanlal Sharma ...Applicant vs. The State of Maharashtra ...Respondent Mr.Sudhir B. Lambhate for the Applicant. Mr.S.A. Shaikh, APP for the State. CORAM : V.M. KANADE, J. DATED : DECEMBER 8, 2009 P.C. :- 1 Heard Counsel for the applicant and APP for the State 2 The applicant has been arrested in connection with an offence punishable under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 34 of the IPC which is registered by the Vashi Police Station vide C.R.No.I-267/2009 dated 28th July, 2009. The present 2 applicant was arrested on 30th August, 2009. 3 It is alleged that one Manish Malkan while taking assistance of the present applicant applied for a loan in respect of a flat No.103, Sunni Tower, Plot 48, Sector 1, Kopar Khairane, Navi Mumbai. Initially, a complaint was lodged by Federal Bank dated 28th July, 2009. It was alleged that the said Manish Malkan after obtaining loan initially repaid the instalments, however, thereafter, stopped paying the charges. Therefore, the bank officials became suspicious and they made enquiries. They learnt that the documents which were presented by the said Malkan and the present applicant were bogus documents. A second complaint also has been lodged by the State Bank of Travancore dated 30th November, 2009 against the said Manish Malkan and the present applicant. In the said complaint also, it is alleged that the Manish Malkan had tendered fabricated papers and had obtained loan of Rs.25 lakhs, however, after paying instalemnt for sometime, the 3 said instalments had not been paid. The said Manish Malkan is absconding and his whereabouts are not known. The applicant was arrested in August 2009 and initially, he was remanded to police custody and later on, to judicial custody. From the facts and circumstances of the case and the complaints which are now shown to me by the learned APP for the State, it appears that the main accused is Manish Malkan and the only role attributed to the present applicant in the present complaint is that, he had used Power of Attorney of Suresh Batheja, Proprietor of Star Builders and it is alleged that the said Power of Attorney is bogus and forged Power of Attorney. This, however, is disputed by the applicant who claims that he was sole selling agent of the said Batheja and that the said Power of Attorney was given to him in order to enable the applicant to register the agreement of sale with the customers. This being the only role attributed to the present applicants and since the 4 money has been misappropriated by the said Manish Malkan, in my view, the custodial detention of the applicant is not necessary, particularly because,the applicant has a fixed place of residence in New Bombay. 4 The applicant, therefore, be released on bail in the sum of Rs.10,000/- with one or two sureties in the like amount. He shall report to the Vashi Police Station once in a month. 5 The application is disposed of. (V.M. KANADE, J.)