1 914-ABA 427-26.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION NO.427 OF 2026 Vijay Kapurchand Bafna … Applicant Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Anr. … Respondents ----- Mr. R. R. Gupta for the Applicant. Mr. B. V. Holambe Patil, APP for Respondent No.1-State. Ms. Kinjal Khandelwal for Respondent No.2. PI Sambhaji Gurav, V. P. Road PS is present. ----- CORAM : N.R. BORKAR, J. DATE : 27TH FEBRUARY 2026 P.C. : 1. This is an Application for anticipatory bail. 2. The Applicant is apprehending his arrest in Crime No.1822 of 2025 registered with V. P. Road Police Station for the offences punishable under Sections 3(5), 316(5), 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. 3. It is the case of the prosecution that the first informant is involved in the business of gold. It is alleged that from 16th December 2025 to 27th December 2025 co-accused in the present crime obtained gold bracelets weighing 1517.600 grams from the first informant under the pretext of selling the same to a businessman from Indore and misappropriated the said gold bracelets. During the investigation of the present crime, they disclosed that they sold the gold bracelets to the present Applicant through co-accused Rajesh Dhaka. Mugdha 1 of 3 MUGDHA MANOJ PARANJAPE Digitally signed by MUGDHA MANOJ PARANJAPE Date: 2026.02.28 15:22:01 +0530 2 914-ABA 427-26.doc 4. I have heard Learned Counsel for the Applicant, Learned APP for Respondent No.1-State and Learned Counsel for Respondent No.2. 5. Learned Counsel for the Applicant submits that the case of the prosecution is not probable as it is unlikely that the first informant would hand over 1517.600 grams of gold bracelets to co-accused without verifying their credentials. It is submitted that the Applicant is a reputed jeweller. It is submitted that there are no other criminal antecedents against the present Applicant. 6. On the other hand, Learned APP for Respondent No.1-State and Learned Counsel for Respondent No.2 submit that during the course of investigation the prosecution has collected CCTV footage which shows the involvement of the Applicant in crime in question. It is submitted that custodial interrogation of the Applicant is necessary to recover the gold in question. It is further submitted that the Applicant in Anticipatory Bail Application No.307 of 2026, who is also a co-accused in the present crime, has stated that he sold the gold in question, which was brought by co- accused Rajesh Dhaka to the present Applicant and got a commission of Rs.55,000/-. It is submitted that considering the nature of crime, the Applicant may not be released on anticipatory bail. 7. I have perused the papers of investigation. From the papers of investigation, prima-facie it appears that the Applicant has purchased 1100 gram of gold from co-accused Rajesh Dhaka. Considering the overall Mugdha 2 of 3 3 914-ABA 427-26.doc facts and circumstances, I am not inclined to release the Applicant on anticipatory bail. Hence, the present Anticipatory Bail Application is rejected. (N.R. BORKAR, J.) Mugdha 3 of 3