Uma Maheswaran v. State Rep By,

A.D.JAGADISH CHANDIRA.,J.

The petitioner, who was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 20.02.2023 for the offence punishable under Sections 4(1)(aa), 4(1-A) of TNP Act, in Crime No.383 of 2022, on the file of the respondent police, seeks bail.

2. The case of the prosecution is that on receiving a secret information, the respondent Police along with his team went to the scene of occurrence and they found that the accused were in illegal possession of 71 litres of ID arrack. Hence the complaint.

3.The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the petitioner is an innocent person and based on the confession statement recorded from A1, he has been falsely implicated in this case. He would also submit that the petitioner is ready to abide by any stringent conditions imposed that may be imposed by this Court and he is in judicial custody from 20.02.2023. Hence, he seeks for grant of bail to the petitioner. 1/4

4.The learned Government Advocate (crl.side) for the respondent would submit that the petitioner along with other accused was found to be in illegal possession of 71 litres of ID arrack. He would further submit that there are 26 previous cases pending against the petitioner. He would also submit that the investigation is at initial stage and if the petitioner is granted bail at this stage, there is every possibility of him, to abscond which would derail the progress of trial. Therefore, he opposed to grant bail to the petitioner.

5.Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Advocate and perused the entire materials available on record.

6. Taking into consideration the allegations and also the bad antecedent of the petitioner and the fact that the case is in the initial stage of the investigation and it is stated that the custodial interrogation of the petitioner is essential, this Court is not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner for the present.

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7. Accordingly, this Criminal Original Petition is dismissed for the present.

30.03.2023 vkr 3/4

A.D.JAGADISH CHANDIRA.,J.

vkr 30.03.2023 4/4