SHALU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicant is the first accused in the aforesaid crimes for which he is seeking regular bail under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. There are six crimes registered against the applicant for having allegedly committed offences punishable under Sections 420 , 465 , and 471 of the IPC. He was arrested on 31.10.2020 in the 1st crime that was taken by the Irinjalakuda police as Crime No.1436/2020. In all the rest of the crimes, his formal arrest was recorded on 10.11.2020.

(2.) The prosecution case in all these crimes registered against the applicant in brief are that, the applicant had presented loose cheques of various persons in the Town Co-operative Bank, Irinjalakuda Nada Branch and those cheques of the customers were obtained by the applicant with the help of the 2nd accused who is a clerk in the bank and thereafter the 3rd accused allegedly forged some of signatures where some other signatures were forged by the applicant himself and the amounts were withdrawn from the accounts of the customers.

(3.) The applicant states that the allegations are not true. It is pointed out that some of the amounts were withdrawn by means of cheque, but some others were by means of RTGS transfers, which could definitely not have been possible by means of issuance of a forged cheque as alleged by the prosecution. The applicant states that he is a businessman dealing in used cars and motorcycles. There are no other criminal antecedents against him apart from these series of cases which had been registered in short succession against him. It is also submitted that he has been in custody for a fairly long time. He has been subjected to custodial interrogation and no purpose will be served by keeping him in judicial custody for a period longer than this. The applicant is only 22 years old. It is also stated that the 3rd accused had already been granted bail in some other crimes and the applicant also may be granted bail.