Vijay Kumar Verma - (1.) WHAT offence is made out on the basis of possession of counterfeit currency notes is the main point that falls for consideration in this bail application.
(2.) BY means of this application under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (in short, 'the Cr. P.C.'), prayer for bail has been made on behalf of the applicant Ram Niwas s/o Balram in Case Crime No. 1241 of 2008 under Sections 489A, 489B, 489C and 420, I.P.C. and Section 2/3 of U. P. Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 (in short, 'the Gangsters Act') of P. S. Kotwali, District Bareilly. On 20.6.2008, an F.I.R. was lodged at P. S. Kotwali Bareilly by S. I. Vidyut Goyal, Incharge Zonal S.O.G., Bareilly. A case under Sections 489A, 489B, 489C and 420, I.P.C. and Section 2/3 of U. P. Gangsters Act was registered against five persons namely Amrish Kumar Dwivedi, Ram Niwas (applicant herein), Kanhai, Smt. Vinoda and Shiv Shanker Agnihotri. The allegations made in the F.I.R. in brief, are that on getting information that four persons including one woman are in contact with other persons to transact counterfeit currency notes, S. I. Vidyut Goyal, Incharge Zonal S.O.G., Bareilly with the help of other persons apprehended applicant Ram Niwas and three other accused on 20.6.2008 at about 5.30 p.m. near Gandhi Udyan, Bareilly. On personal search of the applicant Ram Niwas, 40 counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 500 (total Rs. 20,000) are said to have been recovered. From the accused Amrish Kumar Dwivedi, 22 counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 1,000 from the accused Kanhai, 40 counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 500 and from Smt. Vinoda w/o Mahendra Kumar 40 counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 500. Total 142 counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 82,000 are said to have been recovered from all the four accused, who were arrested and brought to P. S. Kotwali, Bareilly, where F.I.R. was lodged against them as stated hereinabove. It was told by the arrested accused that they have received currency notes from Shiv Shanker Agnihotri s/o Raja Ram resident of village Vilendpur P. S. Pooranpur, District Pilibhit on the basis of that information, F.I.R. was lodged against Shiv Shanker Agnihotri also. I have heard arguments of Sri V. P. Srivastava, senior advocate assisted by Sri Siddharth Saran advocate for the applicant and A.G.A. Sri Rajiv Tiwari for the State.
(3.) THE main submission made by learned counsel for the applicant was that even if the entire version of the F.I.R. is accepted to be true, the offence would not travel beyond Section 489C, I.P.C., which is bailable and hence, the applicant as of right is entitled to be released on bail. THE contention of the learned counsel was that possession of counterfeit currency notes is punishable under Section 489C, I.P.C. only and in such case, the offence punishable under Section 489B, I.P.C. would not be made out. It was further submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that after planting counterfeit currency notes, the applicant has been falsely implicated in this case and no recovery of any currency note was made from him.;