Kerala High Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To President, Secretary & Staff Member Of BSNL Engineers Co-op Society Accused Of Misappropriating Crores

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday denied pre-arrest bail to the President, Secretary and staff member of BSNL Engineers Co-operative Society who have been accused of misappropriating crores from the fixed deposits of the society.

The accused persons have been booked for misappropriating over 44 crores from the Society between 1st June 2019 and 16th June 2020. A single bench of Justice A. Badharudeen observed that while considering anticipatory bail applications for economic offences involving huge sums of money, extra care must be taken to ensure that granting such bail would not hamper the investigation.

“In this connection, it has to be observed that when persons apprehending arrest in non-bailable offences approach the Courts by resorting to Section 438 of Cr.P.C, the Courts having power to grant the relief of pre-arrest bail, not as a matter of right, but purely, as a matter of discretion, should evaluate the materials available prima facie to see the culpability of the accused and the consequence of granting pre-arrest bail. If grant of pre-arrest bail is akin to hampering the investigation where arrest and custodial interrogation are necessary, the Courts shall not exercise the discretion in favour of the persons who seek the discretionary relief. When misappropriation of huge amount of money is involved, the care must be more, in order to ensure that effective investigation shall not either be stalled or disturbed by granting pre-arrest bail. “

Senior Advocate K.Ramakumar appearing for the accused Secretary submitted that he was not involved in the crime and that he himself had deposited around Rs.1 crore with the Society and that he had registered a complaint regarding the misappropriation on 20th November 2020. Senior Advocate P.Vijaya Bhanu appearing for the accused President submitted that he had been the Secretary of the Society since 1987 and no such allegations were raised at the time we was Secretary. During the alleged period of misappropriation he was President of the Society, due to his old age. Advocate R.Anil appearing for the only staff member of the Society argued that he was only acting on the instructions of the administrative committee and that he was innocent.

Advocate P.Vijayakumar appearing for the convener of the action council for BSNL Engineers Co-operative Society submitted that the discretionary relief of anticipatory bail must not be granted in favour of the accused as by the time the prosecution had attached the properties of the accused some of the misappropriated funds had already been diverted and a detailed investigation was required to look into the matter. He also argued that according to Section 4(A) of the bye-law governing the Society, on retirement from service every employee of BSNL loses their membership to the Society. The accused persons continued to hold the post of President and Secretary despite their retirement in violation of the bye laws and misappropriated huge amounts during this time, he argued.

Additional Director General of Prosecution Adv. Gracious Kuriakose appeared for the State and submitted that the investigation conducted so far had revealed that the magnitude of misappropriation may be much larger, coming up to about Rs.300 crores. He also submitted that the investigation revealed that the accused persons maintained parallel registers and faked deposit receipts.

The court was of the opinion that from the case diary and the investigation report, it has been prima facie established that the accused persons manipulated records and misappropriated the funds in question and hence further investigation may be required effecting arrest and custodial interrogation.

“In such a case involving misappropriation of huge amount, if the petitioners will be released on anticipatory bail, infringing the opportunity of the Investigating Officer to have actual custodial interrogation to effectuate meaningful investigation and eventful prosecution with a view to find out the details of misappropriation, including the details of diversion of the amount involved, the same would not only hamper the investigation, but also would destroy the investigation or otherwise the same has the effect of an honourable acquittal.”

The court dismissed the anticipatory bail applications and held that it was open for the Investigating Officer to arrest the accused persons in order to effectuate a fair investigation.

Case Title: Rajeev A R V State of Kerala and Others

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 114

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