,‘N IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVj^ WEDNESDAY ,THE SIXTH DAY OF AUGUST * TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE :PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAd CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 7874 OF 2025 \\l/! V/'-: VA-S H Oh -s- :> 5 /'r7 f t Between: Ozili Nagaraju, S/o. Subbaiah, Aged about 32 years R/o. Ozili Village and Mandal, Tirupathi District. Petitioner/Accused AND The State Of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High Court at Nelapadu Amaravati, through the Station House Officer, Venkatagiri P.S. Tirupathi District. I Respondent/Complainant Petition under Section 482 of BNSS, 2023(Section 438 of Cr.P.C), is filed praying that in the circumstances stated in the memorandum of grounds filed in support of the Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the Petitioner/ Accused on bail in the event of his arrest in connection with F.I.R. No. 127 of 2025, dated 27.06.2025, on the file of Venkatagiri Police Station, SPSR Nellore District. The petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Petition and the memorandum of grounds filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of Sri MALIREDDY GOWTHAM, Advocate for the Petitioner and of PUBLIC PROSECUTOR for Respondent, the Court made the following ORDER APHC010386162025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) [3521] WEDNESDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 7874/2025 Between: Ozili Nagaraju ...PETITIONER/ACCUSED AND The State of Andhra Pradesh ...RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT Counsel for the Petitioner/accused: Malireddy Gowtham Counsel for the Respondent/complainant: Public Prosecutor The Court made the following: ORDER: Criminal Petition has been filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for brevity ‘the BNSS’), seeking to enlarge the Petitioner/Accused on pre-arrest bail in Crime No. 127 of 2025 of Venkatagiri Police Station, Tirupathi District, registered against the Petitioner/Accused herein for the offence punishable under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for brevity ‘the I.P.C). Dr.YLR, J Crl.P.No.7874 of 2025 Dated 06.08.2025 2. The facts, in brief, are that a case of criminal breach of trust servant, which occurred between 21.02.2022 and 20.08.2022 at the by a public Branch Post Office, Vallivedu Village, and was reported on 27.06.2025 at 11:30 hours. It is alleged that the accused collected deposits from depositors Recurring Deposit (RD) accounts and Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts (SSA) the Vallivedu Branch Post Office. Though he made entries in the passbooks. under of affixed the post office stamp, and signed them, he failed to record these transactions in the SB and SSA journals and did not credit the amounts to the BO accounts on the respective deposit dates. The accused allegedly committed misappropriation while working as the Gramin Dak Sevak Branch Postmaster of Vallivedu BO during the period from 06.09.2011 to 29.08.2022. He is said to have used the depositors' money for personal purposes, thereby misappropriating government funds. Upon detection of the fraud, complainant lodged a written report at the Venkatagiri Police Station seeking necessary action. the 3. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor. 4. Mr Malireddy Gowtham, the learned counsel for the Petitioner, submits that the Petitioner has not committed any offence; he was falsely implicated in this case; he is the sole bread winner of his family; he is ready to abide any conditions to be imposed by this Court. It is further submitted that the 3 Dr.YLR, i Crl.P.No.7874 of 2025 Dated 06.08.2025 petitioner has repaid an amount of Rs.1,43,427/- to the Postal Department, which was allegedly misappropriated by him. The petitioner faced a departmental inquiry, pursuant to which he was initially removed from service. However, upon appeal, the competent authority reduced the penalty from removal to demotion. Consequently, the petitioner was demoted from the post of Gramin Dak Sevak to that of a mere Dak Sevak. The petitioner is a Central Government employee, and if he is arrested and remanded to judicial custody for more than 48 hours, a fresh departmental enquiry is likely to be initiated against him, which would cause irreparable hardship and damage to his service career, and urged to grant pre-arrest bail to the petitioner. Per contra, Ms.P. Akhila Naidu, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor, opposed in granting pre-arrest bail stating that investigation is not yet completed. If the petitioner is granted pre-arrest bail, he will not be available for the investigation. It is further submitted that as the petitioner has repaid the misappropriated an amount of Rs. 1,47,427/-. It is clear that the petitioner has committed the office. The accusation is well founded against the petitioner grant of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner is not proper and reasonable. Hence, it is urged to dismiss the petition. 5. 6. Perused the record. 4 Dr.YLR, J Crl.P.No.7874 of 2025 Dated 06.08.2025 7. As seen from the record, it is evident that the petitioner had faced a departmental inquiry and was initially removed from service. However upon his appeal to the competent authority, he was reinstated into service with the penalty of demotion. At the time of the alleged offence, the petitioner was working as a Gramin Dak Sevak. It is not in dispute that the petitioner has not repaid an amount of Rs. 1,47,427/-, which he had misappropriated . The petitioner is presently working as a Gramin Dak Sevak at Mallam. He has a fixed place of residence and is-a Central Government employee. 8. Considering the gravity and nature of the allegation, the alleged role played by the petitioner/Accused, this Court deems fit it to grant pre-arrest bail to the petitioner 9. In the result, the Criminal Petition is partly allowed with the following conditions: In the event of their arrest, the Petitioner/Accused shall be enlarged on bail subject to he executing a bond for a sum of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand Only), with two sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the arresting police officials; I. ii. The Petitioner/Accused shall make himself available for investigation as and when required; 5 Dr.YLR, J' Crl.P.No.7874 of 2025 Dated 06.08.2025 iii. The Petitioner/Accused shall not cause any threat, inducement or promise to the prosecution witnesses; iv. The Petitioner/Accused shall appear before the Station House Officer concerned once a week i.e., every Saturday between 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m., till filing of the charge sheet. V. The Petitioner/Accused shall not leave the limits of the State of Andhra Pradesh without the express permission from the Station House Officer concerned. The Petitioner/Accused shall surrender their passport, if any, to the investigating officer. If he claims that he does not have a passport, he shall submit an affidavit to that effect to the VI. Investigating Officer. SDI- K TATA RAO DEPUTYiREGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// ECTION OFFICER To, 1. The VII Addl. Sessions Judge, Gudur, SPSR Nellore District. 2. The Station House Officer, Venkatagiri P.S., Tirupathi District. 3. One CC to SRI. MALIREDDY GOWTHAM Advocate [OPUC] 4. Two CCS to the PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, High Court of A.P [OPUC] 5. One spare copy psk HIGH COURT DR.YLR.J DATED:06/08/2025 BAIL ORDER CRLP.No.7874 of 2025 ALLOWED