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.

 

                                                          -

 

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.

                   -

 

 

     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.