Pritam Hazra And ORS v. State Of West Bengal

CRM No.10907 of 2020 11.03.21 (S.R.) Sl.38 Ct.28 In re: An application for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure filed in connection with Khanakul Police Station Case No.194 of 2020 dated 18.08.2020 under Sections 147/148/149/323/354/379/436 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act; And In re: Pritam Hazra & Ors.

... petitioners.

Mr. Niladri Sekhar Ghosh ... for the petitioners.

Mr. Abhra Mukherjee Mr. Gautam Banerjee ...for the State.

Mr. Ghosh, learned advocate appearing for the petitioners submits that the allegations levelled against the petitioners are unfounded. The principal accused is one Ajay Paramanik, who along with others have been granted anticipatory bail in an application being CRM No.9136 of 2020 on 25th November, 2020.

Mr. Banerjee, learned advocate appearing for the State opposes the petitioners' prayer for anticipatory bail and draws our attention to several documents in the case diary.

Upon perusal of the materials in the case diary, we find that the nature of allegations as levelled against the petitioners is similar to that of Ajay Paramanik, who has already been granted anticipatory bail. In view thereof, we are of the opinion that custodial interrogation of the petitioners is not necessary in the facts and circumstances of the case.

Accordingly, we direct that in the event of arrest, the petitioners, namely, 1. Pritam Hazra, 2. Bappaditya Pal, 3. Pradip Jana, 4. Uttam Bhunye, 5. Sadhan Manna, 6. Kanai Hazra, 7. Supratap Bera @ Kartik, 8.Bapan Sing @ Rajkumar Sing, 9. Babuya Pandit, 10. Sandip Gayen, 11. Bhimchandra Malik, 12. Koushik Dolui, 13.

Umesh Adhikari, 14. Manik Maiti, 15. Manik Mondal and 16. Mani Shankar Jana shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- each with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the arresting officer and subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

It is further directed that the petitioners shall not tamper with the evidence or intimidate the witnesses and shall meet with the Investigating Officer as and when called for. In case the petitioners fail to comply with the aforesaid directions, the Investigating Officer shall be at liberty to approach the learned Magistrate for cancellation of the anticipatory bail. Accordingly, the application for anticipatory bail being CRM No.10907 of 2020 is allowed.

All parties shall act on the server copies of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. (Tirthankar Ghosh, J.) (Tapabrata Chakraborty, J.)