Court No. - 78 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 20199 of 2023 Applicant :- Vikas Kumar Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Ashish Pandey,Nitin Gupta, Sadrul Islam Jafri, Sr. Advocate Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Singh,J. Heard Shri N.I Jafri, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Shri Sadrul Islam Jafri, learned counsel for the applicant, Shri Sanjay Kumar Yadav, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation and learned Additional Government Advocate representing the State. By means of this third bail application, the applicant, who is involved in Special Case No. 01 of 2020 (Case Crime No. RC1202019A0005 of 2019), under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, police station CBI/ACB, district Ghaziabad, seeks enlargement on bail during the pendency of trial. Earlier two bail applications of the applicant were rejected on merits by the coordinate Bench of this Court. The only contention raised by the learned counsel for the applicant is that the applicant does not have any criminal history to his credit and is languishing in jail 13.09.2019. As per custody certificate dated 18.09.2024 the applicant has served actual two years, four months and three days against the maximum sentence of seven years and in view of first proviso to Section 479 BNSS, 2023, he is entitled to be released on bail. Section 479 of BNSS reads as under: 479. Maximum period for which undertrial prisoner can be detained: (1) Where a person has, during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial under this Sanhita of an offence under any law (not being an offence for which the punishment of death or life imprisonment has been specified as one of the punishments under that law) undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence under that law, he shall be released by the Court on bail: Provided that where such person is a first-time offender (who has never been convicted of any offence in the past) he shall be released on bond by the Court, if he has undergone detention for the period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for such offence under that law: Provided further that the Court may, after hearing the Public Prosecutor and for reasons to be recorded by it in writing, order the continued detention of such person for a period longer than one half of the said period or release him on bail bond instead of his bond. Provided also that no such person shall in any case be detained during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial for more than the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the said offence under that law. Per contra, learned counsel for the CBI opposed the prayer for bail of the applicant, but could not dispute the incarceration period of the applicant as noted above. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and examined the matter in its entirety, looking to the incarceration period of the applicant and the fact that the applicant is a first offender and he has already undergone actual two years, four months and three days against the maximum sentence of seven years, this Court is of the opinion that the applicant has made out a case for bail. Hence, the bail application is hereby allowed. Let the applicant-Vikas Kumar, be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions, which are being imposed in the interest of justice:- (i) That the applicant shall cooperate in the expeditious disposal of the trial and shall regularly attend the court unless inevitable. (ii) That the applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence. (iii) That after his release, the applicant shall not involve in any criminal activity. (iv) The identity, status and residential proof of sureties will be verified by court concerned. In case of breach of any of the conditions mentioned above, court concerned will be at liberty to cancel the bail. Order Date :- 8.4.2025 Ishrat Digitally signed by :- MOHAMMAD ISHRAT High Court of Judicature at Allahabad