ABDUL SALAM V.V. Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicants are accused in Crime No.407/2020 of Payangadi Police Station, Kannur for having allegedly committed offences punishable under Sections 489B and 489C of the IPC. The prosecution case, in brief, is this:

(2.) On 25.07.2020, the applicants deposited forged fake/counterfeit Indian currency notes in the BNA Machine of Axis Bank, Payangadi Branch into the account of one Misiriya at Kusalnagar in Karnataka. The applicants were both arrested on 08.09.2020 and remanded to judicial custody on 09.09.2020 and have been in custody since then. The applicants state that their house in Payangadi has already been inspected. No other incriminating evidence has been collected. They have been subjected to custodial interrogation and that apart from the deposit of the allegedly forged currency notes, nothing more has been recovered from them. They also do not have any criminal antecedents and therefore, they may be released on bail.

(3.) Heard the learned counsel appearing for the applicants and the learned Public Prosecutor. The learned Public Prosecutor submits that the applicants will have to be further interrogated in connection with the source of the fake currency. And hence, they may not be released on bail at this early stage of the investigation. In view of the fact that the applicants do not have any criminal antecedents and that nothing more than the fake currency notes, which they have allegedly deposited in the BNA Machine of the Axis Bank Branch, no other currency notes have been seized from them and there does not appear to be any possibility of their absconding. Under the circumstances, I find that they are entitled to regular bail.