Neutral Citation No. ( 2025:JHHC:32387 ) IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI B.A. No. 7426 of 2025 ------ Malay Kumar @ Malay Kumar Nandi, aged about 76 years, S/o. Late Radha Raman Nandi, R/o. MW 3, Anandmay Apartment, South Office Para, Doranda, P.O. & P.S.- Doranda, Dist.- Ranchi, Jharkhand. … … Petitioner -Versus - The State of Jharkhand ... … Opposite Party ------ CORAM: - HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AMBUJ NATH ------ For the Petitioner : Mr. Ajit Kumar, Sr. Advocate : Ms. Akriti Shree, Advocate : Mr. Krishna Prajapati, Advocate For the State : Mr. V. K. Vashistha, Spl.P.P. For the Informant : Mr. Mahesh Tewari, Advocate ------ 05/17.10.2025 Heard the parties. 2. The petitioner has been made accused in connection with Chutia P.S. Case No. 130/2022, for the offences registered under Sections 406, 420, 408, 467 & 120B of the I.P.C., pending in the Court of Ms. Khushboo Tyagi, learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class-VIII, Ranchi. 3. The informant claims to be elected treasurer of Sri Ram Krishna Seva Sangh. It is alleged that the accused persons are self-proclaimed Secretary and other office bearers of Sri Ram Krishna Seva Sangh since 03.09.2017. They are running the management of the school, though the Inspector General of Registration, Jharkhand has declared Sukrit Bhattacharyaji the President of Sri Ram Seva Sangh and his team as elected and valid office bearers of the said Sangh. It is alleged that the accused persons in furtherance of common intention have committed misappropriation of Rs. 3.5 Crores. This amount was used in construction of building of school through co-accused Rajesh Kumar Singh, the contractor of M/s. Adarsh Construction without proper authorization. It is also alleged that a vehicle bearing registration no. JH20B-2500 was purchased in the name of Secretary by using the fund of school. 4. Mr. Ajit Kumar, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners submitted that on the instance of Shri Tanmay Mukherjee, the FIR has been registered. He further submitted that the said person was not elected nor authorized by the Executive Body, however, in the FIR; he has stated, he has been authorized by the Executive Body to file the FIR. He submitted that as per the FIR, it has been alleged that Mr. Abhay Kumar Mishra was elected as Secretary for two years, i.e. 2015- 2017 of Vivekananda Vidya Mandir School, which is being run by Ram Krishan Seva Sangh. It was also submitted that the dispute is with regard to the management of the said school and two factions are fighting with each other to take over the control of the said school. According to him, the matter was agitated before the I.G. registration and he has declared the body of the informant’s side valid, which has been challenged before this court in WP(C) No. 1151 of 2020 and the Coordinate Bench of this Court by the Judgment dated 31.08.2023 set-aside the said order of the I.G. registration, whereby other side has been declared as elected body. In due consultation in the said writ petition, with consent of informant side and of petitioner side by order dated 03.03.2022, the Single Judge has been pleased to appoint a retired Judge of this court as administrator of that school. He has assailed the allegation of misappropriating 3.5 crores money in the name of the building as not correct. According to him, building has been constructed and one contractor namely Rajesh Kumar Singh was appointed, and after the approval of construction from the HEC administration as well as the other civic bodies, building was constructed. He further submitted that it has been alleged that two accounts have been opened in the HDFC Bank in connivance with the Branch Manager of the HDFC Bank. He further submitted that the HDFC bank is a scheduled bank in the light of RBI regulation. According to him, there is no illegality in the light of the bylaws of the Ram Krishna Seva Sangh, account can be only opened in the scheduled bank or in the post office in the name of Ram Krishna Seva Sangh. He submits that the school is being run on the basis of registered bylaws. It has been contended that the purchase of a vehicle in the name of Abhay Kumar Mishra has been done inadvertently, however, that has been later on rectified and the said vehicle is now the property of the school. He further submitted that for the similar allegation, one FIR being Jagarnathpur P.S. Case No. 314 of 2017 dated 13.09.2017 has already been registered and now the present FIR has been registered by the informant, who happens to be the member along with Mr. Abhay Kumar Mishra, who was the secretary before 2017. He further submitted that now he has changed his faction and in view of that he has filed the case against the petitioners and others. According to the learned layer, the genesis of this case is dispute between two factions of the school to take control over the administration of the said school. It was submitted that Abhay Kumar Mishra has been granted anticipatory bail by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in ABA No.1629 of 2025 by order dated 11.03.2025 and the Branch Manager of the HDFC bank has also been granted anticipatory bail by the learned Session Judge in ABP No.1836 of 2025. As per the submission, the secretary is having more responsibility in the light of the bylaws and he has already been granted anticipatory by the Coordinate Bench of this court and in view of that, the case of this petitioner stands on better footing. 6. Mr. Mahesh Tewari, learned counsel on behalf of the informant has submitted that the petitioner is self-signed treasurer of Sri Ram Krishna Seva Sangh and he alongwith with co-accused persons had paid 3.17 crores in advance to M/s. Adarsh Construction for unauthorized construction of school building between October, 2019 and March, 2022 as will be evident from paragraph no. 56 of the Case Diary. It was further submitted that the payment was made without approval of executive committee of Sri Ram Krishna Seva Sangh or without No Objection Certificate by HEC, Ranchi. It was further submitted that payment of 4.30 lakh was made in favour of Rajesh Kumar Singh for purchase of vehicle bearing registration no. JH20B- 2500 which was subsequently transferred in the name of Abhay Kumar Singh. It was further submitted that during the financial year 2022- 2023, large sums of advance to unknown vendors have been paid. It was also submitted that about 11 lakhs rupees were withdrawn from the school fund for paying road taxes for school buses but the same were never paid. It was finally submitted that there are four thousand students studying in the school and the petitioner have misappropriated about Rs. 50 crores school fund. On these grounds, he prays that the bail application of the petitioner be rejected. 7. The prosecution case has been instituted on the allegation of defalcation of large sum of amount Rs. 3.17 crores which was used for unauthorized construction of new school building without authorisation from the Executive committee and without No Objection Certificate from the HEC, Ranchi. It is fact that second floor of school building has been constructed, though there is allegation that the contractor has been paid in absence of any bill submitted by him. It further appears that the vehicle which was purchased in the name of contractor has been returned to the school. As far as, allegation of opening a bank account in HDFC Bank is concerned, HDFC Bank is a recognised bank by RBI. 8. While granting anticipatory bail to the co-accused persons namely Dr. Kiran Dwivedi, the then Principal and Dean of Vivekananda Vidya Mandir, Dhurwa and Kashi Nath Mukherjee, a Bench of this Court has observed that “in W.P.(C) No. 1151/2020, which was filed in relation to the dispute between the parties regarding holding of Office by the accused persons, Single Judge has opined that dispute was civil in nature and it required to be adjudicated by competent Civil Court in light of “Society Registration Act”. It further appears that there was similar allegation against the co- accused persons, who have been granted anticipatory bail by different co-ordinate Bench of this Court. Only distinguishing feature is that petitioner was the treasurer of Sri Ram Krishna Seva Sangh. 9. In view of the aforesaid facts, I am inclined to release the petitioner, on bail. Accordingly, the petitioner, named above, is directed to be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each, to the satisfaction of Ms. Khushboo Tyagi, learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class-VIII, Ranchi or her successor in connection with Chutia P.S. Case No. 130/2022. 17 October 2025 (Ambuj Nath, J.) Rahul/-