RAHISH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present petition for seeking regular bail. It has been asserted that the petitioner was arrested for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 406, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), registered at Police Station Sadar, Una. The petitioner is innocent and he was falsely implicated. He was the Branch Manager of the informant company. The Loan Officer/Executive and Recovery Officers were also employed in the Branch. The petitioner was to approve the loan proposal submitted by the Loan Officer/Executive. He worked for seven years with the informant company and thereafter joined a private bank in Chandigarh. The informant company did not pay the full wages and other benefits to the petitioner. The petitioner approached the Labour Officer, Una. The informant company filed a false complaint for pressurizing the petitioner to drop his claim. The loans mentioned in the FIR were dealt with by the Loan Executives/Officials. The petitioner had no direct link or contact with any loanee. The petitioner has been in custody since 3/11/2023. The challan has been filed and no useful purpose would be served by detaining the petitioner in custody. Hence the petition.

(2.) The police filed a status report asserting that the Senior Manager (Legal) filed a complaint before the police asserting that the informant Fusion Micro Finance Limited, is a non-banking financial company registered with the Reserve Bank of India. It provides financial services to women in rural and urban areas through its various branches. The petitioner- accused was working as a Branch Manager at the Una Branch. He was entrusted to run the branch, manage the loan portfolio and carry out regular field visits to detect any employee-related fraud. The petitioner was transferred to the Daulatpur branch as his activities were found to be suspicious. It was found on 30/8/2022 that the loan was disbursed to five customers through NEFT, however, the accused/petitioner informed the company that NEFT was cancelled and the loan was disbursed in cash. An amount of Rs.27,898.00 could not be recovered. He was asked to join the investigation to enquire about cash deviation; however, he failed to do so. It was also found that 52 loans were sanctioned at Una Branch by the accused based on manipulated KYCs/documents. Some of the loanees stated that they had not received the amount, whereas it was shown to be disbursed. They stated that their signatures on the disbursement slip were forged. The petitioner claimed that he had deposited Rs.1,09,000.00 but no receipt was issued. The petitioner disclosed that the accused/petitioner had only deposited Rs.26,200.00 and not Rs.1,09,000.00 in the Kiosk. Budh Singh, Relationship Officer stated that he had handed over a sum of Rs.2089.00, however, the petitioner deposited only Rs.1146.00 in the loan account of Ms. Parminder Kaur. The police registered the FIR and seized the record. The police arrested the petitioner. The challan has been prepared and presented before the Court. The case was listed for service on 14/2/2024. The petitioner had applied for interim bail which was allowed and the petitioner surrendered after the expiry of the bail.

(3.) I have heard Mr. Rajesh Kumar Parmar, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Prashant Sen, learned Deputy Advocate General for the respondent/State.