Chenna Boyanna Krishna Yadav vs State Of Maharashtra & Anr

3. The appellant is an Advocate by profession. In the year 1994 he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Till the year 1998 he was a Minister in the Andhra Pradesh Government. In the year 1999 he was again elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Between the period from October, 1999 to November, 2001 he was again a Minister holding various portfolios.

4. One Abdul Karim Ladsab Telgi (hereinafter referred to as 'Telgi') was arrested and proceeded against for alleged commission of offences of printing and distributing counterfeit stamps/papers on a very large scale. During investigations, stamps/papers worth Rs.2,128 crores were seized. A second search on 11.1.2003 at one of the premises occupied by Telgi, conducted by the Special Investigating Team, resulted in the recovery of a micro audio cassette. The said cassette contained recording of alleged conversation between the appellant and Telgi. The date mentioned on the said cassette is 16.1.1998. On an analysis of the voice samples of the appellant, the Forensic Laboratory opined that the voice recorded in the said cassette was that of the appellant.

5. The case of the prosecution, based on the cassette, is that in the year 1998 the appellant was involved in the kidnapping of two employees of Telgi, namely, Abdul Wahid and Sadashiva. He demanded a ransom of Rs.2 crores from Telgi for their release. A deal materialised and as a result thereof the appellant came closer to Telgi. The friendship between the appellant and Telgi blossomed and as a result wherefor, the appellant rendered active support and help to Telgi in his alleged unlawful activities of Organised Crime Syndicate in the State of Andhra Pradesh relating to printing of counterfeit stamps and other documents and sale thereof. The allegation, in short, is that the appellant received huge amounts of money from time to time from the Organised Crime Syndicate, headed by Telgi, and in return, being an influential political person, provided a protective umbrella to the Organised Crime Syndicate in carrying out unlawful activities in the State of Andhra Pradesh, and thus, knowingly facilitated and abetted the commission of an Organised Crime by the Syndicate of Telgi.

7. The appellant was arrested on 6.9.2003 and was remanded to police custody. Since 26.9.2003 he is in judicial custody. The charge-sheet came to be filed on 29.12.2003. Subsequently some more charge-sheets were filed and finally a supplementary charge-sheet was filed by the CBI on 26.7.2005. All these charge-sheets were consolidated into one.

15. Bearing in mind the above broad principles, we may now consider the merits of the appeal.

17. Having regard to the afore-mentioned circumstances, particularly the role attributed to the appellant in the charge-sheet, we are of the view that it is a fit case for grant of bail to the appellant.

18. Consequently, the appeal is allowed and the order passed by the High Court is set aside. It is directed that the appellant shall be enlarged on bail on his furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs.5 lakhs with two sureties, each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Special Court, Pune. He shall also remain bound by all the conditions as stipulated in Section 438(2) of the Code. The appellant shall also surrender his passport, if any, before the Special Court, Pune.

19. It goes without saying that aforenoted observations on the merits of the material collected by the prosecution are tentative, only for the purpose of this appeal, and shall not be taken as an expression of final opinion on the merits of the case.