An SHO and three other policemen have been granted anticipatory bail by a Delhi court in a case of alleged siphoning off old currency notes amounting to Rs one crore that were seized from a scrap dealer during demonetisation raids in November last year.
The court granted the relief to the four cops, saying there was no chance of their fleeing from justice as they were in Delhi Police and directed them neither to tamper with evidence nor influence the witnesses in the case.
"The applicants are not previous convicts. No other case is pending against them. There is no chance of their fleeing from justice as they are in Delhi Police. They have already joined investigation as stated by the investigating officer.
"Since, the applicants are apprehending arrest in the matter, the applications moved by them are allowed. It is ordered that in the event of arrest, applicants/accused be released on bail on their furnishing personal bonds in the sum of Rs 10,000 each with one surety of like amount," Additional Sessions Judge Bimla Kumari said.
The court also directed the then SHO of Jahangir Puri Inspector Naresh Chander, and three other policemen-- Rajesh, Shri Bhagwan and Suresh Kumar-- to join investigation as and when directed by the IO and not to flee from justice.
It said they will not do any such act which will affect the administration of justice.
According to the prosecution, the four cops allegedly siphoned off old currency notes, which were found by main accused Sharfudin, a scrap dealer, in a garbage dump in Jahangir Puri area in outer Delhi.
The accused sought anticipatory bail on the ground that they were working in Delhi Police for more than 20 years and were falsely implicated by the complainant to extort money.
Advocate Pradeep Rana, who appeared for the accused cops, claimed that the complainant woman is in the habit of lodging false complaints and withdraws her complaint after extorting money and there was a delay of several days in lodging the FIR.
The prosecution said a call was made to the police on the night of November 15, 2016, by the woman that the scrap dealer had found a hugh quantity of old notes in a garbage dump.
The four officials seized the notes from the scrap dealer but did not deposit it in the government treasury and instead distributed the currency among themselves, it said, adding that an FIR was lodged on November 24 under sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
During investigation, Rs two lakh and several mobile phones purchased with the old currency notes were recovered from the accused cops, it said.
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