Supreme Court Issues Notice On Actor Mohd Naseer's Plea Seeking Bail In Chit Fund Scam Case

The vacation bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Vikram Nath in their order said,

"Issue notice returnable within 3 weeks."

Naseer, who had acted in a film called "Shadow" and was also a director of M/S Fine Sales Pvt. Ltd., had approached the Top Court seeking bail in a complaint which was filed against him alleging offences under Sections 406, 420, 468, 471 & 34 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and under section 4,5 and 6 of Prize, Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.

Naseer was arrested on July 20, 2009 but was granted bail on the same day. The investigation was transferred to the CBI by the Orissa High Court on December 12, 2012. After filing the chargesheet, he was taken into custody in 2019 and has been in jail since then.

It is submitted that he was arrested without any specific allegation three years after filing of charge-sheet which is against the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Siddharth vs. State of UP and Ors.

It is argued in the plea that for the offences with which he has been charged, the maximum period of incarceration is seven years and that he has been in custody for more than 3 years.

Contending that the investigation is complete, it has further been stated in the plea that non-adjudication of the Bail Application and the long period of incarceration beyond the total period of conviction (in case of conviction) is against the mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India (liberty and right to speedy trial).

Seeking enlargement on bail, it was also contended in the plea that since Naseer has been suffering from permanent blindness by birth, it's very difficult for him to move on his own.

The petitioner has also contended that the Orissa High Court had reserved orders in Naseer's plea seeking bail on June 12, 2020 but the judgment is yet to be pronounced since then.

"The judgment stands reserved for close to two years and it has not been listed for judgment or orders," plea stated.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Bhatnagar assisted by Advocate(s) Swarnendu Chatterjee, Himanshu Nailwal, Aditya Sidhra and Yashwardhan Singh appeared for the petitioners.

Case Title: Mohd Naseer v CBI

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