Srinagar Court Dismisses Bail Plea Of Alleged Conman Who Posed As PMO Official

A Srinagar court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of man from Gujarat, Kiran Patel, who who allegedly conned the security establishment in Jammu and Kashmir into believing him to be a PMO official and got the requisite perks on his multiple visits to J&K

The court had reserved the order on Monday after hearing the arguments of the counsel representing Patel and the additional public prosecutor.

The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar Raja Mohammad Tasleem while finding the bail plea devoid of any merit observed,

"There is enough material available on the file, suggestive of the fact that while meeting different and variety of people and conducting meeting with highly elevated officials of civil administration and police the accused may have received hefty amount for different purpose which areas seem not to have been investigated so far and further no recoveries have been made by the investigating agency so far, hence a detailed and thorough investigating is also required to be conducted as far as this area of the matter is concerned".

Deciding the bail application of the alleged conman the court further observed that because one of the offence levelled against accused is Sec. 467 (Forgery Of Valuable Security, Will) IPC which carries punishment of imprisonment for life, the accused cannot claim bail as a matter of right because he has applied for bail in terms of Sec. 437 Cr.P.C.

"It is as clear as anything that the case of the accused is not falling within the ambit and domain of Sec. 41 & 41-A of Cr.P.C hence cannot claim benefit of Sec. 41 & 41-A of Cr.P.C and guidelines of Arnaish Kumar as well", the bench added.

Finding merit in the arguments advanced by APP the court declined bail observing that, in case, at this stage discretion of bail is exercised in favour of the accused, it shall definitely destroy the very fabric of the investigation. "Resultantly, in my considered opinion the instant application is devoid of any merit which deserves to be rejected, hence rejected.”, said the court.

Pertinent to mention that Kiran Patel, the alleged imposter hailing from Gujarat posed as an additional director (strategy and campaigns) in the Prime Minister's Office and enjoyed many perks, including a bulletproof car and security cover besides other hospitality. Kiran Patel was on his third visit to the Kashmir Valley when he was nabbed by security officials from a five-star hotel in Nishat area of Srinagar on March 2 after inputs from CID J&K.

Case Title: Patel Kiran Jagdish Bhai vs UT of J&K

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