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High Court of Punjab and HaryanaCRM-M/22095/2023allowed

Mahabir v. State Of Haryana

2023-08-08Mr. Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal3 pages

The petitioner seeks grant of anticipatory bail in respect of a case registered against him vide FIR No.10 dated 17.4.2023, Police Station Anti Corruption Bureau, Karnal, under Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act deleted later on and Section 7-A of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B IPC added).

As per the case of prosecution, the complainant had met Ramdia, Kanungo, in his office at Tehsil Alewa in connection with a partition case and that said Ramdia, Kanungo demanded an amount of Rs.18,000/- for the purpose of preparing Naksha-Be. The matter was settled at Rs.15,000/- and an amount of Rs.5000/- was paid on the same date while the remaining Rs.10,000/- was to be paid later. However,

since the petitioner did not wish to pay the said amount he reported the matter to the police and accordingly a trap was laid and aforesaid Ramdia, Kanungo was caught red-handed.

It is further the case of prosecution that during the course of investigation Ramdia disclosed that as a matter of fact he is a retired Kanungo and had been asked by the petitioner who is the present Kanungo, to do the work of demarcation and that it was at his instance that he had demanded the amount in question.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that he was nowhere ever in the picture and that neither the complainant had ever met him nor the petitioner had ever raised any demand nor any amount was recovered from him and that it is the co-accused who is attributed all these acts and as such the petitioner cannot be connected with the alleged factum of demand or recovery of bribe.

Notice of motion for 08.08.2023.

Meanwhile, in the event of arrest, the petitioner be released on interim bail subject to his furnishing personal bonds and surety bonds to the satisfaction of Arresting/Investigating Officer. However, the petitioner shall join the investigation as and when called upon to do so and cooperate with the Arresting/Investigating Officer and shall abide by the conditions as provided under Section 438 (2) Cr.P.C.