NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Telangana High Court to consider afresh on merits of CBI’s plea challenging the bail granted to Erra Gangi Reddy in connection with the YS Vivekananda Reddy murder case.
Noting that the Andhra Pradesh HC had not considered the probe agency’s plea on merits, a bench of Justice MR Shah and CT Ravikumar, in their order said, “As the HC has not at all considered merits of the application for cancellation of the bail, the matter is to be remitted to the High Court for considering the said application afresh in accordance with law and on merits and in light of the observations made hereinabove. As pursuant to the earlier judgment and order passed by this court dated 29.11.2022 in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 169 of 2022, the trial of the FIR in the present case has been ordered to be transferred to the CBI Special Court, Hyderabad, the proceedings of the cancellation of the bail application, which was earlier filed before the HC of AP at Amaravati are ordered to be transferred to the HC of Telangana in Hyderabad and now the HC of Telangana to consider.”
The court’s order came in a plea, which was preferred by the CBI challenging the AP HC’s March 16, 2022 order. The HC had dismissed the CBI’s plea seeking cancellation of bail, which was granted to Reddy u/s 167(2) of CrPC by observing that once the accused is released on default bail, it is not permissible to consider the case for cancellation of bail on merits.
The SC while setting aside the HC’s order, observed that mere filing of the chargesheet is not enough, but on the basis of the chargesheet, a strong case is to be made out that the accused has committed non-bailable crime and he deserves to be in custody. The court further said, “The courts have the power to cancel the bail and examine the merits of the case in a case where the accused is released on default bail and released not on merits earlier.”
Underscoring the object and purpose of proviso to Section 167(2) of CrPC as per which an accused on failure of the investigating agency to conclude the investigation within the time stipulated under the CrPC has the right to be released on ‘default bail’, the court said the object and purpose of proviso to Section 167(2) of CrPC is to impress upon the need for expeditious investigation within the prescribed time limit and to prevent laxity in that behalf. The object is to inculcate a sense of its urgency and on default the magistrate shall release the accused if he is ready and does furnish bail, he court observed.
The bench further said once an accused is released on default bail under Section 167(2) of CrPC, his bail cannot be cancelled on merits is accepted, in that case, it will be giving a premium to the lethargic and/or negligence, may be in a given case of deliberate attempt on the part of the investigating agency not to file the chargesheet within the prescribed time period.