IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.21176 of 2019
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-440 Year-2018 Thana- MANER District- Patna
Ashok Ram, S/o Late Bijuli Ram, Resident of Village – Bhawani Tola, P.S.-
Maner, Distt. – Patna.
… … Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar
2. Priti Rani Branch Manager, State Bank of India, Maner, Patna Pin-801108
… … Opposite Party/s
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Ranjeet Tiwary
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Raj Ballabh Singh
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH KUMAR SINGH
ORAL ORDER
5 31-07-2019 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, learned APP
for the State and learned counsel for the informant.
The petitioner is apprehending arrest in a case
registered for the offences punishable under Sections 406 and
Section420 of the Indian Penal Code.
The prosecution case as per the written report of Priti
Rani, the then Branch Manager, State Bank of India, Maner
Branch submitted to the Station House Officer, Maner Police
Station is to the effect that the petitioner, Ashok Ram was
granted gold loan on 19.11.2014 for the agriculture purposes to
the tune of Rs.1,85,000/- but he never repaid the loan amount
and became non-performing assets and consequently, the purity
of the gold deposited by the petitioner was verified by Ginni
Gold House, a Gold Jewellery Shop at Patna and on
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verification, the deposited gold was found only 25%-30% pure,
hence, it is alleged that the petitioner by playing fraud got the
loan sanctioned.
It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner
that the loan was given in lieu of deposit of 120 gms gold by the
petitioner and only after verification of its purity, the loan was
sanctioned to the petitioner but deliberately, the bank got a
promted purity test report obtained to make a ground to lodge
criminal case. Since the loan was sanctioned after due
verification of purity of the gold in question hence, no offence
under Section 420 IPC is made out. It is the petitioner who
deposited gold hence, there is no entrustment to the petitioner.
In the circumstances, no case under Section 406 IPC is made
out.
Learned counsel for the informant submits that the
petitioner, in fact, deposited the fake and impure gold and
received the loan in lieu thereof. Moreover, he never repaid the
loan amount, hence, he committed forgery upon the bank. The
informant, who is Branch Manger of the bank, is present in
Court and accepts this fact that such kind of loan is being
sanctioned only after purity of the gold is tested by the
authorized dealer but no such verification report with regard to
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purity of the deposited gold in question is available in the bank.
Moreover, other persons have also obtained loan in similar
fashion. It is further submitted that public money is being
siphoned of by misusing the process of the bank by such
loanees. However, departmental proceeding has been initiated
against the bank officials.
Considering the rival submissions of the parties,
since this is not in dispute that the procedure for granting
gold loan is to sanction loan only after obtaining the purity
report of the gold so deposited but the same is not available in
the bank, hence, the presumption is against the bank officials,
who mismanaged the whole procedure but the bank officials,
who sanctioned the said loan or in whose custody, the gold
was being kept, have not been made accused in the present
FIR, coupled with the statement made in paragraph 3 of
the petition that the petitioner is not having any criminal
antecedent, let the above named petitioner be released on
anticipatory bail in the event of arrest or surrender before the
learned Court below within a period of twelve weeks from
today, on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.10,000/- (Ten thousand)
with two sureties of the like amount each, and cash surety of
Rs.1,00,000/- deposited before the learned Court below
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which will be subject to the result of the case, to the
satisfaction of learned Judicial Magistrate, Ist Class, Danapur in
connection with Maner P.S. Case No. 440 of 2018, subject to the
conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C.
(Dinesh Kumar Singh, J)
DKS/-
U T