VINOD Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has been arrayed as the sole accused in Crime No.179/2017 of Neyyattinkara Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram District which has been registered for offences punishable under Sectoins 465, 468, 471, 485 and 420 of IPC .

(2.) The prosecution case in short is that though the petitioner has not acquired LLB degree, with the intention to forge LLB degree certificate and use the same as original degree certificate, the petitioner had forged and created a fake LLB degree certificate said to have been issued by the Jai Prakash University, Chapra on 17.5.2014 and that on the basis of the said forged and fake LLB degree certificate, he had also secured enrollment at the Bar Council of Kerala to practise as an Advocate on 15.2.2015. By using the said certificate, the petitioner has falsely represented that he has studied in the said University and affixed fake seal and signature on it and had produced the said certificate before the Bar Council of Kerala for enrollment as aforestated and had also used the same by presenting the same before Bar Association, Neyyattinkara for membership in that association and thereby the petitioner has committed the above said offences.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner would point out that the abovesaid allegations have been falsely foisted on the petitioner and that at any rate, since the petitioner has suffered detention since 15.05.2019, which is for about 58 days, his continued detention is not necessary. The learned Prosecutor has seriously opposed the grant of bail and submitted that the investigation has not been completed etc. When this case has come up on an earlier occasion, this Court has specifically directed the investigating officer through the Prosecutor to furnish the details as to whether the investigation process in relation to the collection of statements from the competent officials of the University concerned in the State of Bihar have been duly completed and as to the present stage of investigation etc. The learned Prosecutor has today submitted that in view of the workload of the Station House Officer concerned, the steps could not be completed to ensure the collection of statements from the officials of the University in the State of Bihar. The petitioner has been now under detention for the last 58 days. This Court had earlier rejected the plea for regular bail to the petitioner as per Annexure-D order dated 10.06.2019 in B.A.No.3814/2019.