CHANDER BHAN Vs. STATE NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition filed by the petitioner under Sec. 439 Cr.P.C. seeking regular bail in case FIR No. 77/2023 under Ss. 384/323/341/365/295-A/395/342/34 IPC read with Sec. 7 of P.C.Act registered at Police Station Anand Vihar.

(2.) In brief, the facts of the case are that on 7/3/2023 at about 11:30 AM, the complainant Mohd. Nawab along with his cousin, namely, Mohd. Suheb was coming from Slaughter house Gazipur, Delhi in his Car No. DL 2CAE-3071 and was going towards his house at New Mustafabad, Delhi. When both of them reached Vivek Niketan (Ashok Niketan) red light Anand Vihar, suddenly one scooty hit their car and the owner of the scooty started fighting with them. During the fight, the scooty driver demanded Rs.4000.00 from them for settlement. Suddenly, one PCR Van came at the spot and from said PCR Van, Ct Sandeep and ASI Sompal came out. Ct Sandeep forcibly took Rs.2500.00 from the pocket of complainant's brother Suheb and handed over the said money to the scooty rider and thereafter, pressurized the complainant for settlement and further demanded Rs.15,000.00 for the same. After some time, Ct. Sandeep and ASI Sompal Singh called some people and later on, four persons came at the spot who were introduced as officials of the department of NGT. All the persons took the complainant and his brother to the crime spot i.e. near Railway line, Railway Colony, where they all confined both of them till 2:30 PM and also gave beatings to them, they tried to cut their hands with knife, urinated on victims face and passed derogatory remarks, "mullo aaj tumhe jaan se maar kar naale me fenk denge aur tum gaukashi karte ho, aaj tum nahi bachoge". They all forcibly took Rs.25,500.00 from the pocket of Mohd. Nawab. Ct. Sandeep called father of Suheb and at the same time, ASI Chander Bhan (Petitioner herein) also reached the spot. ASI Chander Bhan helped those four persons in running away from the spot. When father of Suheb reached the spot, ASI Chander Bhan took the victims to a Bengali clinic in vicinity for treatment and took Rs.2500.00 from them for their release. He also obtained the signatures of victims and father of Suheb on some blank papers. The complainant has further alleged that when the complainant wanted to file complaint against above said police officials, he was pressurized and threatened for settling the matter. As a result, the aforesaid FIR was got registered against the petitioner and investigation was taken up.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that petitioner has been falsely implicated in this case and is in judicial custody since 7/5/2023. He further submitted that there is a delay of four days in the registration of the FIR. He further submitted that FIR clearly reflected that the petitioner has no complicity in the present case and the offence had already been committed against the victims by other co-accused by the time the petitioner had arrived at the spot. He further submitted that in so far as the allegations against the petitioner that he had taken bribe of Rs.25,000.00 from Mohd. Istiyak, father of the victim Mohd. Suheb, is a matter of trial as no such bribe was taken by him. He further submitted that since the investigation is complete and chargesheet has been filed, no useful purpose will be served by keeping the petitioner in judicial custody. He further submitted that there is not even an iota of evidence against the petitioner.