2025:CGHC:6168 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRC No. 708 of 2025 Kamlesh Singh S/o Late Prem Lal Gond Aged About 35 Years R/o Village- Bakeli, P.S.- Pali, District- Shahdol, M.P. (Wrongly Particular Mentioned In Cause Title Of Applicant As Santosh Agariya, S/o- Sirjhu Agariya) ... Applicant versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through - S.H.O. Police Station Manendragarh, District- M.C.B., C.G. ... Respondent (Cause title is taken from the CIS) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For Applicant : Shri Pushkar Sinha, Advocate For Respondent/State : Shri Atanu Ghosh, Dy GA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hon'ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal Order on Board 03.02.2025 1. Heard on the application filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS, 2023). This is the first bail application before this Court filed by the applicant for grant of regular bail. 2. The applicant was arrested on 12.03.2024 in connection with Crime No.57 of 2024 registered at PS- Manendragarh, District- MCB, Chhattisgarh for the offence punishable under Sections 120B, 307, 201, 34 of the IPC, and 25 & 27 of Arms Act. Mcrc 708 of 2025 2 3. Case of the prosecution in brief is that one Bhumsen is the relative (Samdhi) of victim-Kunti Bai. He advised the co-accused Santosh to get the other accused persons hired for eliminating the victim, so that children of Santosh may be benefited for the compassionate appointment and other service dues of the victim, as she was an employee of the South Eastern Coal Fields Limited (SECL). In furtherance thereof, the co-accused Santosh hired the other co-accused persons, including the present applicant, who made gun fire on the victim, by which she received bullet injury on her chest. Report has been lodged by one Deepika, relative of deceased-Kunti Bai, and on her report, offence has been registered, and during investigation, name of present applicant has come on the memorandum statement of other co-accused persons. The applicant has been arrested by the Police, and after investigation, charge-sheet has been filed. 4. Learned counsel for the applicant would submit that no bullet injury has been found on the body of the victim. There is no motive in for the present applicant to make any assault by country made pistol. He would further submit that the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of the applicant is defective, which cannot be relied upon, as the victim has seen the applicant in the Police custody. Applicant has not played any active role in commission of the offence, and his name appeared only in the memorandum statement of the other accused persons. He is in jail since 12.03.2024, investigation has already been completed, and charge-sheet has been filed. Final adjudication of the case will take some more time. He would further submit that other co- accused namely, Bhumsen, Santosh Agariya, and Manish Kumar Sonwani have been granted bail by this Court, and the present case of applicant is also similar to them, therefore, present applicant may also be enlarged on bail. Mcrc 708 of 2025 3 5. On the other hand, learned State counsel opposes the bail application, and would submit that present applicant has been duly identified in theTIP and further, on his memorandum, country made pistol has been seized from him, his name has been duly appeared in the memorandum statement of other accused persons, and he is duly identified the victim. The bail application of co-accused Dal Pratap Singh @ Gudda has been rejected by this Court vide order dated 08.01.2025 in MCRC-8075 of 2024. Therefore, applicant is not entitled for bail. 6. Heard learned counsel for the parties. 7. Considering the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, also considering the nature of allegation, and the material collected during the investigation, further considering that present applicant has been duly identified by the victim in the TIP, and the country made pistol has been seized from him, in furtherance to it, bail application of the co- accused Dal Pratap Singh @ Gudda has been rejected by this Court, I am not inclined to release the applicant on bail. 8. Accordingly, the bail application filed by the applicant- Kamlesh Singh, s/o late Prem Lal Gond is rejected. Certified copy as per rules. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) JUDGE padma