Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:113910 Court No. - 82 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 482 BNSS No. - 5315 of 2025 Applicant :- Manager Mohd. Asif Ali And Another Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Ajay Kumar Pandey Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Sameer Jain,J. 1. Supplementary affidavit filed on behalf of the applicants is taken on record. 2. On 08.07.2025, learned AGA was directed to seek instructions whether during investigation statements of students whose scholarship amount were allegedly misappropriated by the applicants were recorded or not but learned AGA on query submits that till date he could not receive any instructions. 3. In view of the above, instant anticipatory bail application is being heard on merits. 4. Heard Sri Ajay Kumar Pandey, learned counsel for the applicants and Sri Jhamman Ram, learned A.G.A. for the State. 5. The present anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant in F.I.R./Case Crime No.41 of 2019, under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B IPC & Section 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act, Police Station E.O.W. District Meerut with a prayer to enlarge him on anticipatory bail. 6. Learned counsel for the applicants submitted that however, applicant no.1 is Manager while applicant no.2 is President of the Government aided school and as per allegations they misappropriated the scholarship amount of 281 students but entire allegations levelled against them are totally false. 7. He further submitted that FIR of the present case was lodged in the year 2019 but till date investigation of the case could not be concluded and even till date statements of alleged students i.e. victims have not been recorded by the Investigating Officer but in spite of that merely on the basis of bald and verbal allegations, Investigation Officer is now trying to arrest the applicants. He further submitted that applicants are respected persons of the society and the instant FIR has been lodged only with the intention to ruin their social image. 8. He further submitted that applicants are not having any criminal history. 9. He, therefore, further submitted that considering the above facts, applicants should be enlarged on anticipatory bail till the conclusion of trial. 10. Per contra, learned A.G.A. however, opposed the prayer for grant of anticipatory bail and submitted that applicants misappropriated the scholarship amount of 281 students but could not dispute the fact that as per averment made in para 26 of the affidavit filed in support of the instant anticipatory bail application, till date statements of these students have not been recorded by the Investigating Officer. Learned AGA could not controvert the averment made in para 26 of the affidavit. Learned AGA further could not dispute the fact that the alleged FIR was lodged in the year 2019 but investigation of the case is still pending. He also could not dispute the fact that applicants are not having any previous criminal history. 11. I have heard both the parties and perused the record of the case. 12. However, as per allegation being Manager and President of Government Aided schools, applicants misappropriated the scholarship amount of 281 students but applicants in para 26 of the affidavit specifically averred that however, investigation is pending for last six years but till date Investigating Officer did not even record the statements of students i.e. victims of the case. Further, FIR of the present case was lodged in the year 2019 and since then six years have been passed but till date investigation of the case is still pending. 13. Further, considering the facts of the case, apprehension of custody/ arrest raised by applicants cannot be completely ruled out. Further, applicants are not having any criminal history to their credit. 14. Therefore, considering the facts and circumstances of the case discussed above, in my view applicants are entitled to be released on anticipatory bail till conclusion of trial. 15. Accordingly, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the instant anticipatory bail application is allowed. 16. In the event of arrest of the applicants, Mohd. Asif and Anees Ahmad involved in the aforesaid case crime number, shall be released on bail till the conclusion of trial on furnishing a personal bond with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Presiding Officer/Court Concerned, with the conditions that:- i. that the applicants shall make himself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required; ii. that the applicants 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 the applicants shall not leave India without previous permission of the court; iv. that the applicants shall not tamper with the evidence during the trial; v. that the applicants shall not pressurize/ intimidate the prosecution witness; vi. that the applicants shall appear before the trial court on each date fixed unless personal presence is exempted; 17. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the court concerned shall have the liberty to cancel the bail granted to the applicants. 18. It is made clear that observations made in granting anticipatory bail to the applicant shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses. Order Date :- 15.7.2025 S.A. Digitally signed by :- SALMAN AHMAD High Court of Judicature at Allahabad