Ranjan Kumar @ Ranjay Kumar v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL APPEAL (SJ) No.3271 of 2023 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-19 Year-2023 Thana- PIPRAKOTHI District- East Champaran ====================================================== 1.

RANJAN KUMAR @ RANJAY KUMAR S/O KAPIL DEV RAI R/O VILLAGE- SHITAL PATTI, PS. CHAKIA, DIST. EAST CHAMPARAN 2.

KAPIL DEV RAI S/O LATE METHU RAI @ METHURA R/O VILLAGESHITAL PATTI, PS. CHAKIA, DIST. EAST CHAMPARAN 3.

SACHIDA PRASAD @ SUCHENDRA PRASAD YADAV S/O JITAN RAI @ LATE JAT NARAYAN RAI R/O VILLAGE- ORAIYA, PS. DHAKA, DIST. EAST CHAMPARAN, BIHAR 4.

KAJAL KUMARI D/O DR. SACHIDA PRASAD @ SUCHENDRA PRASAD YADAV R/O VILLAGE- ORAIYA, PS. DHAKA, DIST. EAST CHAMPARAN, BIHAR ... ... Appellant/s

Versus

1.

THE STATE OF BIHAR 2.

PASPATI DEVI W/O NANDLAL RAI R/O VILLAGE- BALATOLA, PS. PIPRA KOTHI, DIST. EAST CHAMPARAN, BIHAR ... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Appellant/s :

Mr. Prateek Tandon, Advocate For the Respondent/s :

Mr. Binay Krishna, Spl.P.P.

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 21-01-2026

1. Heard learned counsel for the appellants and learned Special Public Prosecutor for the State.

2. This is an appeal under Section 14-A(2) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the "SC/ST Act") against the refusal of prayer for anticipatory bail vide order dated 07.06.2023 in A.B.P. No. 2134 of 2023 passed by the learned Special Judge, SC/ST Act, East Champaran, Motihari in connection with Pipra Kothi P.S. Case No. 19 of 2023 registered under Sections 341, 323, 354(B), 120(B), 311, 406, 420, 467, 468 and 504/34 of the

2/4 Indian Penal Code as well as Sections 3(i)(x)(r)(s) of the SC/ST Act.

3. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants submits that from perusal of the office report dated 07.10.2025, it would manifest that the notice has been duly received by the son of the respondent no. 2.

4. Since the notice has been received by the son of the respondent no. 2, as such, the same is deemed to be validly served.

5. Despite valid service of notice, no one appears on behalf of the respondent no. 2 to contest the case.

6. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants submits that appellants no. 1, 3 and 4 have antecedent of three cases and appellant no. 2 is a person with clean antecedent but then all the cases arise from the same allegation for which the instant FIR has been instituted. It is further submitted that appellant no. 4 is a woman. It is next submitted that the informant alleges that Ranjan Kumar opened a fake organization, namely, Rural Women Development Service Centre Private Limited in the house of Sachindra Prasad Yadav and went from village to village forming a group in the name of women development and convinced the potential beneficiaries that if an amount of Rs.21,000/- per woman is paid then after three months she will get Rs.3,000/- in beneficiary account till the rest of her life. Further,

3/4 the accused persons collected Rs.21,000/- by adding twentytwenty women and gave forged receipts. Further, after a lapse of three months when amount of Rs.3,000/- was not credited in the account of the beneficiaries, accordingly, an inquiry was made when it transpired that the accused persons including the appellants have cheated innocent women of Rs.27 lakhs. Further, the accused abused by taking caste name when confronted.

7. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants submits that appellants have been falsely implicated in the instant case by the informant. It is further submitted that no doubt an amount of Rs.27 lakhs was collected by the organization but then the business failed. It is next submitted that an amount of Rs.27 lakhs has already been returned to the beneficiaries as would manifest from Annexure-2 series to the memo of appeal at page

29. It is also submitted that an agreement was entered in between the head of the women group, namely, Rani Devi and appellant no. 1 along with Sanjay Kumar wherein Rani Devi has specifically stated that now no dues remains with the accused persons.

8. Learned Special Public Prosecutor vehemently opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail of the appellants and submits that no doubt the agreement is annexed but then from perusal of the agreement, it would manifest that the same is dated 20.12.2021 when the FIR came to be instituted in the year 2023. It

4/4 is further submitted that no agreement in between the accused persons and the informant has been entered. It is thus submitted that it may be a ploy. It is next submitted that one can well imagine the plight of the poor rural women who were cheated at the instance of the appellants under the garb of giving an amount of Rs.3,000/- per month for the entire life if an amount of Rs.21,000/- per woman was credited with the organization. It is reiterated and submitted that innocent villagers have been cheated and the investigation of the case is still continuing.

10. Considering the submissions made by the learned Spl.P.P. for the State, the Court is not inclined to extend the privilege of anticipatory bail to the appellants.

11. Hence, the prayer for anticipatory bail is rejected. (Satyavrat Verma, J) Kundan/- U T