ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY,J. - (1.) I.A. No.3896 of 2020 & I.A. No.6265 of 2020 : I.A. No. 3896 of 2020 has been filed with prayer for suspension of sentence and grant of bail to the appellant during the pendency of the instant appeal and I.A. No.6265 of 2020 has been filed with prayer to allow the interlocutory application No.3896 of 2020 filed for suspension of sentence and grant of the bail to the appellant-petitioner.
(2.) It is submitted by learned counsel for the appellant that when this appeal along with the bail application was placed before this court on 18.08.2020, learned counsel for the appellant prayed for time and submitted that the appellant is ready for final hearing of this appeal on merit and accordingly did not press the prayer for bail pending hearing of the appeal and the prayer for time was allowed but today the learned counsel for the appellant submits that he has been instructed not to argue the appeal on merits and only to press the interlocutory application for suspension of sentence and grant of bail to the appellant-petitioner pending final hearing of appeal on merit. It is pertinent to mention here that the matter was placed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition (s) (Criminal) No.(s) 419 of 2020, as the appellant approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India invoking the jurisdiction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India under Article 32 of Constitution of the India seeking bail during the pendency of an appeal filed and pending before this court. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India dismissed the writ petition vide order dated 12.03.2021 and observed that "it is open for the appellant-petitioner to file an application for bail before an appropriate court and if the application for bail has already been filed, the same shall be considered by the concerned court on its own merit as early as possible but not later than the outer limit of four weeks from the receipt of the copy of this order". It is further submitted that the appellant has been convicted and sentenced to undergo separate Rigorous Imprisonments for commission of offences punishable under various penal provisions of law as follows:- JUDGEMENT_12_LAWS(JHAR)4_2021_1.html
(3.) It is further submitted that this case is related to bitumen scam and the appellant was a transporter and inter alia there is allegation against him of misappropriating 3045.200 MT of bitumen amounting to approximate value of Rs.1,52,26,000/-. It is next submitted that the appellant has been convicted as the co-accused-Md. Illiyas Hussain being a Minister of Road Construction Department, Bihar and other accused persons being officials of Road Construction Department, Bihar in connivance with the transporters including the appellant-convict and amongst each other processed the files illegally for empanelment of transporters and issued different supply orders for different RCD Division including Chatra without considering the requirement and storage capacity as well as availability of fund and they facilitated the transporters by abusing their official position and thereby the transporters committed misappropriation of huge amount of bitumen and caused loss to the Government Exchequer and for this act of commission and omission, these accused person received illegal gratification in cash and kind both, which has been established by the oral and documentary evidence of the prosecution through P.Ws, the documents and related files of Road Construction Department, Bihar. It is then submitted that the trial court erred in convicting the appellant and the appellant is a heart patient and 69 years old and suffering from ENT problem and complaining chest pain and even he got admitted in jail hospital for treatment as per the advice of doctors of Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology, Patna. It is also submitted that the appellant has been convicted by Special Judge C.B.I., Ranchi and consequent upon the same he was sent to Hotwar Jail Ranchi but he has been transferred to Adarsh Central Jail, Beur at Patna since 22.02.2019 as he is in custody in connection with other cases involving inter alia the offences punishable under the various penal provisions of Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. It is further submitted that the appellant has very good grounds to agitate in the appeal, hence the sentence of the appellant-petitioner be suspended and the appellant-petitioner be admitted to bail during the pendency of the appeal.;