Abhishek Kumar Singh, a suspect in the armed bank robbery of 23 lakh rupees and 8.5 lakh rupees in Karad, Maharashtra, in 2019, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court, noting that the prosecution has not proven that the cash recovered from him is a portion of the bank’s cash that was stolen.
In March 2019, eight people were detained for the alleged dacoity.
Four unidentified individuals, according to the prosecution, forced their way into the Bank of Maharashtra branch in Shenoli and threatened the complainant and bank staff with guns. They were all made to assemble in a sealed storage space, where the accused stole jewelry from the bank safe and cash from the cash register by pointing revolvers at the workers.
The amount of money taken was believed to be $23,20,000, while the gold jewelry was worth $8,51,675. According to the court’s order, the first information report was filed against the unidentified individuals.
Singh was recognized during an identification parade, was captured on CCTV, and had more than $15,000 in property seized from him, according to the prosecution.
The judge noted that a co-accused who was not identified or visible in the CCTV film but was riding on the same bus as Singh and the co-accused’s coffers had 5 lakh was discovered in September 2020 was given bail.
The prosecution has not proven that the money recovered from Singh constitutes a portion of the banknotes that were stolen, according to Justice Karnik. It is one of the reasons the co-accused was granted bail, and Singh must be granted bail on the same basis, according to Justice Karnik.
Singh spent more than four and a half years incarcerated.
The fact that Singh has been imprisoned for more than 4.5 years with no chance of his trial being over anytime soon was also taken into consideration by the court.
The High Court ordered his release on bail in exchange for a 50,000 personal bond. Singh must appear before the investigating officer in Karad once every two weeks until the trial is over because he is from Bihar, the High Court ordered.
30-Year-Old Detention Order In Foreign Exchange Case Is Overruled by Bombay High Court
Observing that the authority had failed to explain the implementation of the order after 30 years, a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse annulled the order and ordered that he be released immediately.
The Bombay High Court has overturned a 62-year-old man’s detention order after 30 years due to suspicions that he was involved in the unauthorized acquisition and transfer of foreign currency. One Abdul Rasheed was given a detention order in 1993, and the Center confirmed this order in 2023.
Observing that the authority had failed to explain the implementation of the order after 30 years, a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse annulled the order and ordered that he be released immediately.
Court permits Center to contact SC
To give the Center time to appeal to the Supreme Court, the bench, however, delayed its order for two weeks.
Under the terms of the COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act), Rasheed was placed in custody on February 28, 2023, for a year.
Then, he went to the HC to contest the detention order issued by the Union Ministry of Finance on May 17, 1993, in accordance with COFEPOSA regulations, and the order issued by the ministry on May 24, 2023, which confirmed the 1993 order.
The judges claimed that no attempts were made by the authorities to find Rasheed. According to the HC, the authorities have not even asserted that Rasheed was involved in any wrongdoing or unacceptable behavior.
“The detaining authority is not justified in executing the detention order after thirty years on the pretext that the petitioner was absconding,” it stated. “In the absence of all practicable means taken to serve the detention order upon the petitioner.
Detaining authority fails to provide adequate justification
Additionally, the detaining authority did not provide a “satisfactory explanation” for why the 1993 custody order for 30 years was not carried out.
Detention under the COFEPOSA is used to stop people from doing anything that would harm the preservation or growth of foreign exchange, stop people from smuggling commodities, or from harboring someone who is doing such things.
“There must be conduct relevant to the formation of the satisfaction having reasonable nexus with the petitioner’s action, which is prejudicial to make an order for detaining him,” the bench stated.
In 1992, a man named Umar Mohamad was detained at the Mumbai airport while he was his route to Dubai with a sizable sum of purportedly hidden foreign currency. Immediately after his remarks, a detention