Anil Kumar Sundaray ….. State of Odisha v. …
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK BLAPL No. 13062 of 2022 Anil Kumar Sundaray ….. State of Odisha Vs. ….. Petitioner Mr. Achyutananda Pattanaik, Advocate Opposite Party Mr. D. Nayak, Addl. Govt. Advocate Order No. 08. CORAM: JUSTICE SAVITRI RATHO
Decision
ORDER 06.06.2023 This is the third successive bail application under Section 439 of Cr.P.C. for grant of bail to the petitioner in connection with Jankia P.S. Case No.78 of 2021 corresponding to S.T. Case No.21/76 of 2021 pending in the Court of learned C.J.M. -cum- Asst. Sessions Judge, Khurda. The petitioner is facing trial alongwith Gobinda Jena, the petitioner in BLAPL No. 12555 of 2022 and other co-accused persons, for commission of offences punishable under Section 395 of the IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act. 2. BLAPL No.5328 of 2021 earlier filed by the petitioner had been withdrawn on 15.02.2022 to move the Court below for bail and BLAPL No. 2231 of 2022 had been withdrawn on 25.08.2022 to move the trial Court after 01.09.2022 after examination of the witnesses. Now the prayer for bail of the petitioner has been rejected Page 1 of 6 by the learned 1st Addl. Sessions Judge, Khurda on 16.12.2022 in BLAPL No. 678 of 2022. 3. Mr. A. Pattanaik, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that FIR had been registered against three unknown persons and the allegations against the petitioner was that he had come on a motorcycle alongwith three other accused persons and kicked the motorcycle of P.W.2, for which the latter fell down with his motorcycle. Co accused, Chandan @ Chandrasekhar Biswal at the point of bhujali, opened the dicky and took away the cash of Rupees Five Lakh Fifty thousand kept there. He was identified in the T.I parade alongwith some other co accused persons. Those accused persons have been released on bail while the petitioner and co accused, Govinda Jena are in custody since more than two years (17.04.2021 and 28.05.2021 respectively). Two of the accused who had been identified in the T.I Parade have been granted bail by this Court - Chandan @ Chandra Sekhar Biswal in BLAPL No. 11622 of 2021 by order dated 31.01.2022 and Aju @ Sk. Azad in BLAPL No. 1916 of 2022 by order dated 09.09.2022. The petitioner stands on a similar footing as them. He further submits that out of twenty one chargesheet witnesses, only twelve have been examined in the trial and he has filed the copies of their depositions. Except P.W.3, Page 2 of 6 Sumanta Behera, the other witnesses have not stated anything incriminating against the petitioner and as the trial is lingering for no fault of his, he should be released on bail. 4. Mr. D. Nayak, learned Additional Government Advocate opposed the prayer for bail stating that the petitioner has two criminal antecedents of similar nature and has actively participated in the crime. It could not be brought to the notice of the Court which was hearing BL APL No. 11622 of 2021 that the accused persons who had earlier been released on bail had not been identified in the T.I. parade and therefore stood on a different and better footing than the petitioner in BLAPL No. 11622 of 2021,. So prayer of bail of co- accused Chandan @ Chandra Sekhar Biswal was allowed on the ground that he stood on a similar footing as the other accused persons who had been released on bail. Aju @ Sk. Azad whose prayer for bail had been rejected earlier in BLAPL No. 5393 of 2021, has been granted bail in BLAPL No. 1916 of 2022 as co-accused Chandan @ Chandrasekhar Biswal had been released on bail and only one identifying witness had identified him during the trial. 5. From a perusal of the reports dated 05.04.2023, 21.04.2023 and 08.05.2023 of the learned C.J.M., Khurda, it is apparent that the case was committed on 14.09.2021 and transferred to the Court of Page 3 of 6 the learned C.J.M. on 14.09.2021 and charge was framed on 19.05.2022. Out of twenty one charge sheeted witnesses, thirteen had been examined by 06.04.2023. The case was posted to 05.05.2023 for evidence. Two witnesses had come on that day but as the Presiding Officer had been relieved and no officer has joined in his place, they could not be examined. The case was thereafter posted to 18.05.2023 for trial. 6. Perusal of the depositions reveals that four witnesses were examined on 08.07.2022 and P.W.5 and P.W.6 on 03.11.2022; and P.W.7, P.W.8 and P.W.9 on 01.12.2022 and P.W.10, P.W.11 and P.W.12 on 09.12.2022. P.W.2 Sangram Keshari Jayasingh has stated that co-accused Sk Azad and the petitioner Govinda Jena came on a black motor cycle and followed the two culprits who had snatched the cash. P.W.3 Sumanta Behera has identified four accused persons during trial- Chandra Sekhar Biswal, Sidhanta Kumar Swain and Pitamber Baliarsingh and Anil Kumar Sundaray. He has stated that after the four accused persons came in a black motorcycle and kicked his scooty, he fell down. Thereafter Chandra Sekhar Biswal came, took the key of the scooty, opened the dicky and took away the cash of Rs. 5,50,000/-. 7. Chandan @ Chandra Sekhar Biswal has been released on bail Page 4 of 6 in BLAPL No. 11622 of 2021 by order dated 31.01.2022, Aju @ Sk. Azad who has been released on bail in BLAPL No. 1916 of 2022 by order dated 09.09.2022, Pitambar Baliarsingh has been released on bail in BL APL No. 5614 of 2021 by order dated 25.03.2022. 8. Considering the submissions of the learned counsel for respective parties, the period of detention of the petitioner and the fact of release of other accused persons and as the order dated 31.01.2022 passed in BLAPL No.11622 of 2021, has not been challenged by the State till date , I am inclined to allow the prayer for bail. 9. Let the petitioner Anil Kumar Sundaray be released on bail in the aforesaid case on such terms and conditions as the learned trial Court may deem fit and proper including the following conditions: i) He shall not indulge in any criminal activities ii) He shall appear before the learned trial Court on each date to which the case is posted for trial unless his appearance is dispensed with on any particular day by the learned trial court . Page 5 of 6 iii) He shall report before the Jankia Police Station on every alternate Saturday between 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm. Violation of any of the conditions shall entail cancellation of bail. 10. The BLAPL is accordingly allowed. 11. Observations in this order are for the purpose of consideration of the bail application and should not influence the trial Court in any manner. 12. Urgent certified copy of this order be granted on proper application. 13. A copy of this order be sent to the I.I.C., Jankia Police Station. Sukanta ………………………... (SAVITRI RATHO) JUDGE Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: SUKANTA KUMAR BEHERA Designation: Senior Stenographer Reason: Authentication Location: Orissa High Court, Cuttack Date: 06-Jun-2023 16:55:11 Page 6 of 6