Vinod Chhikara v. State Of West Bengal
13.08.2021 Item no.1.
Court No.32.
AB (Allowed) In the High Court at Calcutta Circuit Bench at Port Blair (Appellate Side) (Via Video Conference) CRM No.10 of 2021 In Re: An Application for Anticipatory Bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure filed on 04.08.2021 in connection with Pahargaon Police Station Case No.26 of 2021 Dated 20.03.2021 under Sections 419/420/120B of the Indian Penal Code read with Sections 65/66/66D/72A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 And In the matter of : Vinod Chhikara ......Petitioner.
Mr. Sandipan Ganguly, Sr. Adv, Mr. Arijit Bakshi ......for the Petitioner.
Mr. Krishna Rao ......for the A&N Administration. The petitioner is a Police Constable with the Delhi Police. He is one of the several accused persons. The allegation is that the accused persons manipulated online examination conducted by the Indian Coast Guard for recruitment to the post of Navik. By such manipulation, the accused persons have facilitated cheating in the selection examination, is the allegation.
We are told that eight of the accused persons were apprehended and released on regular bail. One accused person has been granted anticipatory bail, inter alia, on the ground that there was no proper service of Section 41A notice on him. The present petitioner also says that no notice under Section 41A has been served on him. He is fully ready, willing and prepared to cooperate with the investigation. He says that he will surrender at the earliest. Investigation is in progress. Charge sheet has not yet been submitted.
Learned Advocate appearing for the Andaman & Nicobar Administration vehemently opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail and submits that the Section 41A notice was served on the petitioner, but the same has not been complied with. This is disputed by the petitioner.
Having regard to the nature of the allegations and the gravity of the charge brought against the petitioner, we are of the view that his immediate custodial interrogation may not be necessary so long as he cooperates with the Investigating Officer. Accordingly, in the event of arrest, the petitioner shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/-, with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the arresting officer and shall abide by the conditions laid down in Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure until further orders.
In case the petitioner fails to adhere to any of the conditions mentioned in Section 438(2) of the Code, the learned
Court below shall be entitled to cancel the anticipatory bail without further reference to this Court.
The application for anticipatory bail being C.R.M. No.10 of 2021 is, thus, allowed.
All parties shall act in terms of server copy of the order downloaded from the official website of this Court. (Suvra Ghosh, J.) (Arijit Banerjee, J.)