Bail – Applicant sought modification of condition of bail – Directions issued – Applicant is accused for the offences u/s 120(B), 420, 379, 409, 468, 411, 427 and 447 of IPC, s.2 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, r.21 r/w. Rules 4(1), 4(1)(A) and 23 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 – Appellant was arrested by the CBI on 05.09.2011 – Bail was granted by Supreme Court on 20.01.2015, subject to some conditions – One of them was a condition (c) which read as “he shall not visit the Districts of Bellary in Karnataka and District of Ananthapuram and Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh” – Thereafter, present application was filed for the modification of the condition (c) – By interim order, Supreme Court modified the said condition to the extent that the applicant shall give prior intimation to the SP of his visit – Held: The applicant is facing the trial for very serious offences – In the past the apprehensions of influencing the witness are proved to be true and even the judicial officers were influenced/tried to be influenced – There is a serious apprehension on the part of the CBI / investigating agency that if condition No.(c) is relaxed and/or modified and/or substituted, there would be threat to the witnesses because of the power and influence that the applicant is having – Even after a period of 11 years of filing the FIR and despite the observations made by Supreme Court directing the trial to be expedited, the trial has not begun – Early conclusion of the trial would enhance the faith of people in justice delivery system – Now, direction, inter-alia, issued to the trial Court to begin the trial on day to day basis and once the trial begins the applicant-accused may be restrained from entering into the Districts of Bellary in Karnataka and District of Ananthapuram and Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh – Application disposed of.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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