SATPAL SINGLA Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has applied for bail on the ground that he is in custody since 22.12.2014 while the main accused Harpreet Singh applied for anticipatory bail and was granted interim relief.

(2.) COUNSEL for the petitioner submitted that as per the FIR, he and Harpreet Singh were the accused along with others but since the petitioner was arrested five days after the FIR, charge sheet was presented against him in court on 26.2.2015. As per the final report (Annexure P3), he was sent for trial for the offences punishable under Sections 120 -B,406,409, 420,467,468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC for short) and 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Challan could not have been presented against him under Section 120 -B IPC as he singly could not have conspired to commit any offence. This argument would, however, not be acceptable because the offence under Section 120 -B IPC was added on account of conspiracy between the petitioner and Harpreet Singh. It is immaterial that challan has been filed only against petitioner at this stage.

(3.) IT was then argued on behalf of the petitioner that Harpreet Singh was the main culprit who has not been arrested so far and he filed an application under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C. for short) and was granted interim bail on 6.4.2015. Till then, the police made no effort to arrest him though charge sheet had been filed against the petitioner much earlier.