High Court

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945-ABA-1610-231 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABADANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION NO. 1610 OF 2023Shaikh Naseeb S/o Shaikh Rahim … Applicant VERSUSThe State Of Maharashtraand another… Respondents......Mr. M.A. Tandale, Advocate for the ApplicantMr. N.B. Patil, APP for Respondents – State...... [CORAM : NITIN B. SURYAWANSHI, J.] DATE : 23rd JANUARY, 2024 ORDER :1.The applicant apprehends arrest in connection withCrime No. 56 of 2017 registered with Itwara Police Station,Nanded for offences punishable under sections 420, 409, 467,468, 471 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code andsections 3 and 4 of Maharashtra Protection of Interest ofDepositors (In Financial Establishment) Act. 2.FIR is lodged by Irfan Abdul Rauf alleging that he hadaccount in Shri Ratneshwari Mata Urban Co-operative Society(for short, ‘the said society’), which he was operating from lastone year for making payments to the wholesalers. He used todeposit amounts with the said society and society used toissue cheques of the said amounts of his account in the nameof wholesalers. Three months before he purchased 827 k.g.1 of 7 945-ABA-1610-232 dry fruits from Mansi International Wholesale Shop forRs.89,432/-. He deposited the said amount in the said societyand the said society issued two cheques of the said amount ofS.B.H. Bank to him. From K.G.N. Enterprises Wholesale Shop,he purchased dry fruits worth Rs.92,000/-. He depositedamount of Rs.92,000/- in the said society and the said societyissued him two cheques of I.D.B.I. and S.B.I. Bank. Hedeposited an amount of Rs.5,00,000/- in the said society forpurchasing dry fruits from Al Asar Trading Company. The saidsociety issued 16 cheques of Rs.30,000/- each and one chequeof Rs.20,000/- of S.B.H. Bank. He was informed by MansiInternational Wholesale Shop, K.G.N. Enterprises and Al AsarTrading Company that the cheques given by him aredishonoured. He, therefore, went in the said society andinquired with Manager, Jitendra Thete, Uddhav Ghorpade andSandip Gore, who were operating the said society. He was toldthat due to demonetization (Note bandi), their transactionswere stalled. He was asked to wait for some days, and not todeposit the cheques in the Bank, and he will pay the amountafter few days. Thereafter, he was never paid the said amount.On 06.04.2017, when he went to the society, he found thesaid society closed. On inquiry, he was told that the society232 of 7 945-ABA-1610-233 has become bankrupt and all the Directors had fled away. He,therefore, lodged FIR.3.Investigation of the said FIR was transferred to theEconomic Offences Wing, Nanded. A supplementary statementof informant was recorded on 25.10.2017 that after few daysof lodging FIR, Shaikh Naseeb Shaikh Rahim from the saidsociety contacted him and assure to return his money andrequested him to withdraw the complaint. However, informanttold him that unless and until he receives his money back, hewill not withdraw FIR lodged by him. Balaji Sunnewar, BranchManager Jagannath Ghumare, Director Uddhav Ghorpade, andJitendra Thete repeatedly contacted informant and requestedhim to withdraw the complaint. He also gave an agreement inwriting on 14/07/2017, by which he assured to repay theamount of informant within two months and gave cheque ofI.D.B.I. Bank of Tipu Sultan Urban Multistate Co-operativeSociety. When the cheque was deposited on 11/09/2017, itwas dishonoured. Applicant again requested informant toagain deposit the cheque. Informant, therefore, againdeposited the cheque. However, it was dishonoured on14/10/2017. Informant, therefore, contended that all theDirectors of the said Society, employees of the Bank have3 of 7 945-ABA-1610-234 conspired and obtained Rs.6,81,431/- from him and issuedcheques of the same amounts, though there were no funds intheir accounts. 4.Heard learned advocate for applicant and learnedAPP for respondents – State. Perused the investigation papers.5.Learned advocate for applicant submits that name ofapplicant is disclosed by co-accused. Charge-sheet is filed inthe present case, and therefore, applicant’s custody is notrequired. Applicant was Chariman of Tipu Sultan UrbanMultistate Co-operative Society at Sirola, Taluka Parli, DistrictBeed, which was transferred to Balaji Sunnewar on04.07.2014, and the transfer deed was executed. All thedeposits and account holders money is also transferred toRatneshwari Mata Urban Multistate Co-operative CreditSociety. At that time and thereafter applicant has no concernwith Ratneshwari Mata Urban Multistate Co-operative CreditSociety. Balaji Sunnewar was the Chairman of the said societyand he was looking after all the affairs of the said society.Applicant has no role to play in the alleged offence andtherefore he may be granted anticipatory bail. Learnedadvocate for applicant placed reliance on Siddharam4 of 7 945-ABA-1610-235 Satlingappa Mhetre Vs. State of Maharashtra and Ors., AIR2011 Supreme Court 312, in support of his arguments.6.Learned APP, on the other hand, opposed theapplication by relying on the charge-sheet. It is submitted thatapplicant has committed forgery and has given forged licenceand fake registration certificate of Ratneshwari Mata UrbanMultistate Co-operative Credit Society. Amounts weretransferred from Ratneshwari Mata Urban MultistateCo-operative Credit Society to the account of applicant.Custody is therefore necessary for investigation purpose. 7.From the record, it is clear that applicant has alsoexecuted an agreement on 04.07.2017 with main accusedBalaji Sunnewar in the capacity of Chairman and Chiefpromoter of Tipu Sultan Co-operative Society, therebytransferring Tipu Sultan Co-operative Society to BalajiSunnewar and to provide registration of all the Directors,original by-laws, original registration certificate, bankstatement, audit balance sheet, share certificate, membersregister, etc., copy of NOC, bank closer certificate, anddepositors details and transfer the said society in the name ofnew Management represented by Balaji Sunnewar. Applicantwas Chairman of Tipu Sultan Urban Multistate Co-operative5 of 7 945-ABA-1610-236 Society, which he has allegedly sold to Balaji Sunnewar andother accused persons. Applicant along with other accusedwent to Delhi for completing the process for transfer of TipuSultan Urban Multistate Co-operative Society to RatneshwariMata Urban Multistate Co-operative Credit Society. It appearsthat applicant provided fake registration certificate andbanking permit of Ratneshwari Mata Urban Multistate Co-operative Credit Society to the other accused persons. BalajiSunnewar and other accused believed that the said licence andbanking permit is genuine to start operating Ratneshwari MataUrban Multistate Co-operative Credit Society.8.From the investigation papers, it appears thatapplicant is actively involved in the fraud committed by theaccused persons. Applicant has entered into severaltransactions prior and subsequent to the transactions ofinformant, and substantive amount were transferred inapplicant’s account from Ratneshwari Mata Urban MultistateCo-operative Credit Society.9.Some of the depositors of Ratneshwari Mata UrbanMultistate Co-operative Credit Society have stated that afterregistration of crime applicant approached them and offeredcheques of their deposited amount and requested that not to6 of 7 945-ABA-1610-237 lodged any complaints. Cheques given by applicant weredishonoured subsequently. It thus appears that sincebeginning applicant intend to commit cheating and criminalbreach of trust. There is sufficient material on record to showinvolvement of applicant in commission of serious offence. Forrecovery of necessary record and for effective investigation,custody of applicant is necessary. He, therefore, does notdeserves discretionary relief of anticipatory bail. 10.There cannot be any dispute about the ratio inSiddharam Satlingappa Mhetre (supra). However, in the factsof the present case, applicant is not entitled for discretionaryrelief of anticipatory bail. 11.The application is therefore rejected. [ NITIN B. SURYAWANSHI ] JUDGE S.P. Rane7 of 7