UPENDRA RAI Vs. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition the petitioner seeks bail in case FIR No.RC-217-2018 A 0004 CBI-AC-II under sections 120-B/384 IPC and Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (in short 'PC Act').

(2.) Learned senior counsel for the petitioner submits that since the petitioner is not a public servant no public servant has been found to be involved, Section 8 of the PC Act is not attracted. Further, offence punishable under Section 384 IPC entails a punishment of imprisonment for a period of maximum three years and the petitioner has been in custody now since 10th July, 2018, thus he be released on bail.

(3.) Learned Senior counsel for the petitioner has taken this Court through the contents of the FIR and states that the status report filed by the CBI relies on facts which are not founded in the FIR nor part of investigation. Despite the fact that the petitioner was in custody in another FIR and orders were passed in favour of CBI to interrogate the petitioner, no efforts were made to carry out the investigation and after the release on bail in the other case, the petitioner was arrested in this case. Charge-sheet having been filed petitioner is no more required for the investigation which is based primarily on the documentary evidence. Reliance is placed on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the judgment reported as Babji Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh, 2018 LawSuit(SC) 774.