ANNAJI BABURAO KULKARNI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In C.R. No.828 of 2020 registered with Indapur Police Station, Pune, for the offences punishable under Sections 306 read with 34 of the IPC , the Applicant is seeking his pre-arrest bail.

(2.) The Applicant is arraigned as an accused in the said crime along with two other co-accused - Tejas Hegde and Nilesh Bankar, who are already released on bail by the Additional Sessions Judge, Baramati. The subject C.R. came to be registered on the complaint filed by the wife of one Satish Dashrath Shende, who consumed poison on 17/07/2020. The complaint stated that the deceased Satish Shende was working in Sangola Urban Co-operative Bank as a Casher and was posted at Nimgaon-Ketki Branch. From 12/07/2020 to 17/07/2020 till 10.00 a.m., three persons i.e. the present Applicant - Annaji Kulkarni, Tejas Hegde and Nilesh Bankar were calling the deceased frequently. As soon as he received the calls, the deceased used to be in stress and when the the Complainant enquired from her husband as to why he is under tension, he disclosed to her that three persons had committed fraud in the bank. He also disclosed that Annaji Kulkarni had opened an account of Tejas Hegde working in Suvarnayug Credit Society and an amount of Rs.20 lakhs came to be deposited and an Over Draft (OD) facility of Rs.18 lakhs was availed. The said amount was withdrawn by him and he quit the job on 31/01/2020. The deceased was unaware of the transaction but he was working as a Cashier and the amount was kept in his counter. However, the deceased had informed his wife that the fraud was divulged on 13/07/2020 and the deceased was being roped into it. Since he was unable to bear the said accusation, he consumed poison. A FIR is, therefore, registered against three persons named by the deceased which includes the Applicant. The offence registered is punishable under Section 306 of the IPC i.e. for abetment to commit suicide read with Section 34 of the IPC against the three accused persons.

(3.) Mr. Bhujbal, learned counsel had argued the matter on earlier dates and he was asked to place on record the Audit Report. Accordingly, along with the Audit Report, he has placed on record an FIR filed by the Auditor, with the Indapur Police Station on 19/09/2020 implicating the Applicant, Sanjay Dada Budruk, Ravindra Jadhav and the deceased along with Tejas Hegde and Machindra Chandne. The said FIR invoked offences punishable under Sections 406 , 409 , 420 , 465 , 467 , 468 read with Section 34 of the IPC against the accused persons.