ORDER SHEET
IN THE HIGH COURT OF SINDH BENCH AT
SUKKUR
Crl. Bail Appln.
No. S – 285 of 2022.
Date |
Order with signature of Judge |
For Hearing of Bail Application.
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19-09-2022.
Mr.Rafiq
Ahmed Kalwar Advocate for applicant.
Mr.Zulifqar Ali Jatoi Addl.P.G a/w I.O/Inspector Abdul Shakoor Abbasi.
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O R
D E R.
ABDUL
MOBEEN LAKHO, J:- Through the instant bail application, applicant Qurban Ali seeks
Post-arrest bail in respect of Crime No.08/2021 of Police Station, ACE, Ghotki, registered for offence under Section 409,PPC R/w Section 5(2) of the Prevention of
Corruption Act, 1947.
2. Prior to this, an application for grant
of bail was moved on behalf of the applicant before the learned trial Court but
the same was dismissed vide order dated 06.06.2022. Now, he has, therefore
approached this Court with the same prayer.
3. In nut-shell, the prosecution case is
that during crop year, 2020-2021 co-accused Nisar
Ahmed Kalwar being Food Supervisor/incharge W.P.C Sarhad, District Ghotki has misappropriated the Government wheat bags and Bardana to worth
Rs.2,24,05,384/-, as such he has caused heavy loss to the Government exchequer
and wrongful gain to himself; hence the FIR. The interim challan
was submitted against him on 15.12.2021. During the course of investigation, it
came on record that present applicant Qurban Ali Food
Inspector, who is real maternal uncle of co-accused Nisar
Ahmed Kalwar, has prepared the bills for payment in
the name of various growers; hence he is equally responsible in the aforesaid
misappropriation with co-accused Nisar Ahmed Kalwar, therefore his name was included in the final Challan.
4. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of
the applicant, inter alia, contended that the present applicant has been
falsely implicated in this case contrary to the actual facts and circumstance
as his name does not appear in the FIR nor in the interim Challan
but with malafide intent for an ulterior purpose, his
name has been mentioned in the final Challan by the
Investigating Officer. He further contended that the applicant has no concern
with the alleged misappropriation with which he is charged, and the applicant
has good case for grant of bail on the ground of further enquiry as
contemplated in Section 497(2), Cr.P.C. In support of
such contention, reliance is placed on the cases reported as Abdul Qasim v The State (2017 Y LR Note 408) & Tariq Mahmood Shah v The State and
another (2020 P Cr.L J 608).
5. On the other hand, learned Addl.P.G appearing on behalf of the State, has supported
the declining bail order; however he has
not been able to controvert the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for
the applicant.
6. I
have heard the arguments of learned counsel for the applicant and learned Addl.P.G for the State. I have also gone through the
material available on record.
7. Admittedly,
FIR was lodged 01.12.2021 and subsequently interim challan
was also filed on15.12.2021 but name of applicant was neither mentioned in FIR
nor shown in interim Challan as an accused. However
after investigation, final Challan was submitted on
20.05.2022 in which name of applicant has been mentioned in the array of
accused. The last 03 lines of final Challan are
reproduced as under:-
“During the
course of investigation, it has come on the record that accused Qurban Ali Kalwar Food Inspector
is seal maternal uncle of accused Nisar Ahmed Kalwar and he prepared such bills for payment into the name
of various growers and he is equally responsible in this fraud with accused Nisar Ahmed Kalwar”.
8. From the record, it appears that the main
allegation of misappropriation of Government wheat bags and Bardana
has been leveled against co-accused Nisar Ahmed, therefore in order to scan the authenticity of such
allegation recording of evidence of prosecution witnesses is essential. Besides
this, the material collected by the prosecution reflects that the applicant is not previous
convict and final Challan has been submitted before
the learned trial Court; hence the applicant is no more required for further
investigation and his further detention will not serve any useful purpose.
Consequently, after perusal of the documents annexed as Annexures-F to M the
tentative assessment is enough to conclude that the applicant is successful in
making out a case of further enquiry and as such the applicant is entitled for
concession of post-arrest bail in terms of Section 497(2), Cr.P.C.
8.
Above are the reasons of a short order dated 19.09.2022 whereby this bail
application was allowed and applicant Qurban Ali Kalwar was granted bail.
JUDGE
Akber.