Kiran v. State of Maharashtra
(2019) 3 AIR Bom R (Cri) 346
In the High Court of Bombay
Crl. App. (ABA) 475, 476/2019
Before Justice Manish Pitale
Decided on July 31, 2019

Relevancy of the Case: Bail application in a case involving large-scale misappropriation of funds of a bank

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 65)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 420, 406, 409, 120B, 465, 467, 468, 471, 477A)
• The Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, 1999 (Section 3)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The applicant held significant positions in the concerned Bank. She was involved in a large-scale misappropriation of money from investors and depositors.
• The State took action against the said action and filed an FIR against the applicant and other accused persons.
• The applicants have filed these anticipatory bail applications, apprehending an arrest after the investigation.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The applicants’ counsel argued that there is an unreasonable delay of one year between the filing of the Special Auditor’s Report and FIR Registration. The applicants had given the possession of entire documentary material, including hard disk. This was sufficient for the said investigation. There is no need for any custodial interrogation of the applicants.
• The public prosecutor submitted that the time gap was necessary to gather sufficient material against the accused. The applicants forced one of the Bank employees to give shelter to a Bank officer by exercising influence during the ad-interim protection granted by the Sessions Court.

Opinion of the Bench

• The material brought on record indicated that there had been a large-scale financial misappropriation leading to serious financial loss to the said Bank.
• The applicant only facilitated the mortgage of a specific property for an early loan grant. These actions are insufficient to count them as the basis of active involvement in the misappropriation of funds.

Final Decision

• The court allowed the bail application and granted anticipatory bail to the applicants.