Allahabad High Court: While granting bail to Moninder Singh Pandher (Applicant), one of the accused of the infamous Nithari Killings, who was in jail for 7 years and was charged under various sections of IPC including Ss. 302, 364 read with 120-B IPC, 376 and also under Ss. 3, 5 of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1956 for killings of several children and a girl (Deceased), the Court held that there is no direct chain of evidence against the applicant as the entire case is based upon circumstantial evidence and the entire case of prosecution is based only on two circumstances one is recovery of hacksaw at the instance of applicant, which prosecution failed establish as the weapon from which murders were committed and another was confessional statement of co-accused relating to killing of the deceased. The Court further emphasised on the fact that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has exonerated the applicant from the charges of murder and rape of the deceased and has also been acquitted in almost identical cases on similar facts and evidences.
The counsel for the applicant Mr. Virendra Kumar Maurya emphatically argued that CBI could not find any evidence against the accused despite the intense investigation and has examined all the witnesses therefore tampering of witnesses by the applicant is not possible on the other hand counsel for the respondents, Mr. N.I. Jafri submitted that CBI has examined several witnesses so there is no reason for this Court to grant bail at this juncture.
The Court also referred the Supreme Court decision in Sanjay Chandra v. CBI, (2012) 1 SCC 40 which held that delay in conclusion of trial is an important consideration in deciding the bail application as completion of trial often take years and, it can be violative of Article 21 of COI in a situation where accused has been denied bail and ultimately received acquittal in the trial. The Court granted bail to the applicant on the condition that he must be present before the Court on the dates fixed for hearing of the case and also to surrender his passport, if not already surrendered. Moninder Singh Pandher v. CBI, Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 10553 of 2014, decided on 4.8.2014
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