Kothakonda Shankar , Bhavani Shankar v. The State Of Telangana

[31s8 I

IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA

AT HYDERABAD THURSDAY, THE THIRD DAY OF JL]\IE TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY ONE :PRESENT:

THE HON'BLE JUSTICE G.SRI DEVI CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 3081 OF 2021 Behl'een:

L Kothakonda Shankar @ Bhavani Shankar, S/o. Anantha Ramulu,

2. Sudhagoni Venkatesh, S/o. Uppalaiah,

3. Chintala Vijaya Kumar, S/o. Yadagiri, Petitioners/Accused No.1 to 3 AND The State ofTelangana, through SHO, Jawahamagar Police Station, Rachakonda Commissionerate, rep. by Public Prosecutor, High Court, Hyderabad. Respondent/complainant Petition under Section 438 of Cr.P.C, praying that in the circumstances stated in the petition and the grounds filed therein, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the petitioners herein on bail in the event of their arrest in connection with FIR. No. 199 of 2021 of Jawahamagar Police Station, Rachakonda Commissionerate; The petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the petition and the grounds filed therein, and upon hearing the arguments of Sri G.Purushotham Reddy, Advocate for the petitioners and ofthe Asst. Public Prosecutor for the Respondent, the Court made the following;

THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE G, SRI DEVI CRIMINAL PETITION No.3081 ot 2021 ORDER:

This Criminal Petition, under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, '1973, is filed by the petitioners/Al to 43 seeking to grant anticipatory bail in the event of their arrest in Cr.No.199 of 2021 on the file of Jawaharnagar Police Station, Rachakonda District, registered for the offences punishable under Section 384 read with Section 34 lPC. 2.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioners/Al to A3, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondenlState and perused the record.

3.

lt is alleged in the complaint that A1 came to his kirana shop at Chennapuram Main Road, Jawaharnagar, purchased Good Day Biscuits on 08.03.2021 and after some, he came to his shop and stated that the biscuit packets sold by him are expired and after eating those biscuits, he has vomited, for which he demanded to pay Rs 2.00 lakhs as compensation and threatened to made a complaint to the Municipal authorities.

4.

Learned counsel for the petitioners/Al to A3 would submit that the petitioners are innocent of the alleged offences and they have been falsely implicated in the present case. He further submits that the petitioners are journalists of print media and that the de-facto complainant appears to have contacted with the company dealer and in collusion with them, he lodged the complaint. He would also submit that the petitioners are not involved in any other crime prior to this occurrence and they are a law abiding citizens and ready to abide by any condition that may be imposed by this Court in the event of their enlargement on anticipatory bail. 5.

Learned Assistant Public Prosecutor vehemently opposed to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners.

6.

Having regard to the facts and circumstances and looking into the nature of allegations leveled against the petitioners and also in view of peculiar conditions of pandemic COVID-19 prevailing in the country, without delving into the merits of the matter, lam inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners/Al to 43. 7.

The Criminal Petition is accordingly allowed and the petitioners/A1 to A3 are granted anticipatory bail subject to the following terms and conditions:

(i) The petitioners/Al to 43 are directed to surrender before the Station House Officer, Jawaharnagar Police Station, Rachakonda District, within a period of 15 days from the date of this order and on such surrender, the said Station House Officer shall release the petitioners/A1 to A3 on bail on their executing a personal bond to the tune of Rs.10,0004 (Rupees ten thousand only) each with two sureties for the like sum each to his satisfaction.

(ii) The petitioners/A1 to A3 shall abide by the other conditions stipulated in Section 438(2) Cr.P.C.

8.

Miscellaneous applications, if any pending in this criminal petition, shall stand closed.

t"i5;r?'o"f;r'ilEir'** //TRUE COPY// SE OFFICER o T '1. Th" XXIII Metropolitan Magistrate, Medchal Court' Cyberabad' Medchal

2. The Station House ofticer, J"awahamagar Police station, Rachakonda District'

3. Two CCs to Public Prosecutor, High Court of Telal,e$f'at Hyderabad (OUT) +. Or" CC to Sri G.Purushotham Reddy, Advocate (OPUC)

5. one Spare CoPY

q HIGH COURT GSD,J DATE: 03-6-2021

ORDER

CRL.P. NO.308l OF 2021 I"q L t tiE J L I oo ,( llJ rur 2t21 + P\TC PETITION AI,LOWED