Facts
Sushil Kumar, the Applicant in the present case, is a famous athlete and a back-to-back Olympic champion wrestler, also a Padma Shree awardee. Due to his contribution to the sports national level and international, he has been awarded several honours. He is accused of murdering the victim whom he forcibly took to the Chatarsal Stadium at gunpoint. An FIR has been lodged against the accused and the co-accused persons. The accused has two minor children of 7 years and 2 years and a wife. IT has been noticed in the case that the deceased Sagar Dhankar was a tenant of Sushil Kumar who did not pay the rent for two months although he vacated the rented premises owned by the applicant’s wife.
Argument by the Accused’s Counsel
The learned counsel appearing for the accused has submitted that the allegations against the Applicant/ accused were not true because the Applicant was implicated by a senior officer’s request as Amar Ujala, a newspaper published. The investigating agency has fabricated a story to fasten the applicant in the present case as there has been a delay of 6 hours in lodging the FIR and also there is no motive found by the investigating agency for which the Applicant would cause such offence. The court did not serve the first notice upon the Applicant/ accused. The passport of the accused had been taken away by the police officials without any reason. Moreover, the police official also called the wife of the applicant in the police station and this is not permissible. Also, the investigating agency did not disclose the person’s details who called at 100 number and informed them about the firing at Chatarsal Stadium, Delhi. Also, the officials of the investigating agency are hiding the antecedents of an injured name Sonu who holds a criminal record. As per the counsel, he submitted that the custodial interrogation is not required as due to the surge of Covid-19 cases, the applicant/ accused might be affected by Corona virus. Also, in support of his arguments, he relied on many past cases. He prayed for the grant of bail.
Argument of the Public Prosecutor
The Special PP for the submitted that the nature of the allegations is very serious. And already there were motives as the deceased was unable to pay two months of rent of the premise owned by the applicant’s wife. Also, the CCTV footage which has not tampered with was sent to FSL and the same has been reported. In the footage, the accused was seen beating the injured persons with a stick. However, the passport of the applicant/ accused was taken so that he can not leave the country. For the lack of cooperation in the investigation, the NBWs were issued against the applicant/ accused. Furthermore, the custodial interrogation is much required to unearth the chain of the incident and the conspiracy behind it. Accordingly, the interrogation is needed to arrest the other co-accused persons involved in the present case and also to recover the weapon of the offence. The dismissal of the bail application is thus prayed.
Court’s Observations
The Five Bench Judges of the Hon’ble Supreme Court did not lay down any formula regarding the denial and grant of an anticipatory bail application. And as per the observation mentioned in the case of Sushila Agarwal v. State (NCT) of Delhi 2020 SCC, it is absolutely the court’s discretion and for the court to decide on the basis of the facts and circumstances from case to case. So, observing the investigation in the present case so far, it is revealed that the applicant is the primary conspirator. The investigation is going on and also some of the accused persons have not yet been arrested. The Statements of eyewitnesses were also recorded.
Court’s Decision
The Court refused to grant anticipatory bail to the Applicant/ accused. The application was thus dismissed.
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