IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Bail Application 1st No.2395 of 2024 Nitish Kumar ....Applicant in Jail Vs. State of Uttarakhand …..Respondent With Bail Application 1st No.2285 of 2024 Aarif @ Hakam & another ....Applicant/Accused Vs. State of Uttarakhand …..Respondent With Bail Application 1st No.2500 of 2024 Sudhir Kumar ....Applicant in Jail Vs. State of Uttarakhand …..Respondent With Bail Application 1st No.2505 of 2024 Mursaleen ....Applicant Vs. State of Uttarakhand …..Respondent Mr. Gaurav Singh and Mr. Narendra Bali, Mr. Parikshit Saini, Mr. Rajendra Singh Azad, (through V.C.) and Mr. Abhishek Srivastava, (through V.C.), learned counsel for the applicants. Mr. S.C. Dumka, learned AGA, for the State of Uttarakhand. Hon’ble Ashish Naithani, J (Oral) These four bail applications are in a connected case and are being decided together by a common judgment. 2. Present bail applications have been moved on behalf of the applicants. The applicants are presently in judicial custody in connection with Case Crime/FIR No.658 of 2024, registered at Police Station Kotwali Roorkee, 1 District Haridwar, under Sections 109, 110, 324(2) and 61(2) of Bhartiya Nayaya Sanhita, 2023. 3. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. 4. The allegations as narrated in the FIR is that on 20.10.2024 at about 18:00 a.m., at Nagla Imarti Tiraha, Police Station Kotwali Roorkee, District Haridwar, the applicants, by hatching a criminal conspiracy, fired on soil trader Salman, with the intention to kill, as a result of which other passer-by Waris got injured due to the bullet fire. 5. The learned counsel for the applicants submits that the applicants have been falsely implicated in the present case and the FIR has been lodged against the unknown persons. It is submitted that assailants wore mask due to which their identity cannot be recognized. It is also submitted that applicant Nitish Kumar was granted bail by learned trial court on 13.11.2024. Learned counsel for the applicants further submitted that there is no independent witness of the incident, thus the applicants are entitled for bail. 6. On the other hand, bail applications have been strongly opposed by learned Additional Government Advocate with the contention that one of the applicants intentionally fired upon the victim, who was carrying out mining mud for which they were legally permitted. Learned State Counsel submits that there is evidence on record that one of the assailants (applicant) had fired with a country made pistol that got straight and it hit another passerby, who got injured and people nearby took him to the hospital. It is also stated that the gun, which was used in the alleged fire was also recovered and there are confessional statement of one of the assailants (applicant-Nitish Kumar) whereby the names of the applicants came into light. It is stated that if the applicants are enlarged on bail, they may threaten the witnesses and become a hindrance in the mud mining activities of the victims that they have been permitted. 7. It is evident at this juncture that the assailants are not named in the FIR because it is reported that they wore masks and amongst them only one fired a shot but it missed the target and accidently a passerby got hit instead. As per records of the police no identification parade regarding identify of the assailants, that are not named in the FIR, was conducted. The applicants Aarif @ Hakam and Hasnullah @ Hasnujamma, Sudhir Kumar and Mursaleen are in jail since 29.10.2024 and merely on the basis of some confessional statements of the co- accused, rest of the accused have been roped in; moreover, the confessional statements before the police does not hold any water and are not tenable as it is admissible law of evidence before the Court. 8. Having considered the submission of learned counsel for the parties without expressing any opinion on the final merits of the case, this Court is of the opinion that the applicants deserve bail at this stage. Accordingly the bail applications are allowed. 9. Let the applicants- Nitish Kumar, Aarif @ Hakam and Hasnullah @ Hasnujamma, Sudhir Kumar and Mursaleen be released on bail on their executing personal bonds and furnishing two reliable sureties each of the like amount to the satisfaction of court concerned. (Ashish Naithani, J.) 03.03.2025 Arti