9911796707
TMI Blog1997 (11) TMI 428X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as well as the largeness of the amount involved no doubt that the order granted by the City Sessions Judge should not remain alive. - CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1116 OF 1997 - - - Dated:- 28-11-1997 - M.K. MUKHERJEE AND K. T. THOMAS, JJ. S.B. Wad, D. Roy Chowdhary, Wasim A. Qadri and V.K. Verrna for the Appellant. R.K. Jain, Utpal Mazumdar, Tripurari Ray, Ms. Sarla Chandra, P. Ghose and Dr. Laxmi Shastri for the Respondent. JUDGMENT K.T. Thomas, J When the Enforcement Directorate under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (for short "the FERA"), moved the High Court of Calcutta challenging an order passed by a sessions judge granting anticipatory bail to the respondent, a Division Bench of the High Court mad ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rits. The City Sessions Judge thereupon heard the parties and passed final order on April 25,1997, in favour of the respondent. The aggrieved appellant moved the Calcutta High Court under section 439(2) of the Code for cancellation of the said bail order. A Division Bench of the High Court (R. Bhattacharyya and M.A. Chowdhury JJ.) has passed the impugned order on June 20, 1997, the operative part of which reads thus: "Persuaded by the aforesaid circumstances, we direct the department to interrogate the accused at the Calcutta office, 8A, Lindsay Street, IInd Floor, Calcutta 700 087, available from the summons (No. T3/CP/179/ Cal/97/MLA/4852, dated June 13, 1997) issued by the Enforcement Directorate. But the petitioner must not be put on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se of the FERA violation involving a whopping sum of 37 crores of rupees and he was arrested in connection with that case on March 16, 1990, and he is continuing on bail. A complaint was filed against him on September 2, 1994, before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta, for an offence under section 96 of the FERA and the case is still pending. Another aspect is the High Court of Calcutta had earlier refused to stop proceedings against the respondent in the present case in spite of repeated motions made by him in that behalf. The next is that when the respondent failed to get any relief from the High Court he adopted an alternative strategy by filing yet another writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of the provisions ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he function of the court to monitor the investigation process so long as such investigation does not transgress any provision of law. It must be left to the investigating agency to decide the venue, the timings and the questions and the manner of putting such questions to persons involved in such offences. A blanket order fully insulating a person from arrest would make his interrogation a mere ritual, (vide State rep. by the CBI v. Anil Sharma [1997] 7 JT 651). This court has pointed out time and again that considerations which should weigh with the court while dealing with a prayer for a pre-arrest bail order are materially different from a post-arrest bail application (vide Pokar Ram v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1985 SC 969, Sta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s not considered those facts at all. We have no doubt that the Division Bench of the High Court has gone ostensibly wrong in passing the impugned order. When we perused the files concerning the allegations against the respondent (which the Directorate had made available to us) we strongly feel that any further loss of time would further impair the effectiveness of the inquiry and/ or investigation into those allegations. Considering the nature and seriousness of the allegations as well as the largeness of the amount involved we have no doubt that the order granted by the City Sessions Judge should not remain alive. We are, therefore, constrained to stretch the arms of the residual powers of this court to deal with the said order also. I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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