SAMEER PANDURANG BANKAR v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
Court: Bombay High Court
Judgment date:
Case summary
Bombay High Court judgment dated 2026-08-17. SAMEER PANDURANG BANKAR v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA. Read the judgment and case details on LawSphereX.
Judgment text
skt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION NO. 2267 OF 2026 Sameer Pandurang Bankar …Applicant Vs. State of Maharashtra …Respondent (P. I. Haveli Police Station) Ms. Pooja Agarwal (VC), for the Applicant. Mr. S. V. Walve, APP for the Respondent-State. API Sunita Chawre, Haveli Police Station, Pune Rural. CORAM: MADHAV J. JAMDAR, J. th DATE : 17 AUGUST, 2026 P. C. : 1. Heard Ms. Agarwal, learned counsel appearing for the Applicant and Mr. Walve, learned APP appearing for the Respondent-State. 2. This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 seeking pre-arrest bail in connection with C. R. No. 63 of 2026 registered with Haveli Police Station, Pune Rural for the offences punishable under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. 3.
As per the prosecution case, the Applicant/Accused was working as the Branch Postmaster of Donje Post Office, Haveli, th 17 August, 2026 skt th th Pune between 17 July, 2019 to 10 June, 2021 and dishonestly misappropriated government money by collecting cash from India Post for depositing in their saving account, completing the transactions through biometric/OTP authentication, however, failed to deposit the cash into the branch post office account. As per the prosecution case, total amount which is misappropriated is Rs. 2,67,808/-. As per the prosecution case, the Applicant has th deposited the said amount of Rs. 2,35,000/- in cash on 19 June, th 2021 a further amount of Rs. 63,000/- towards interest on 24 June, 2021, therefore, total amount deposited is Rs. 2,98,000/-. 4. It is the submission of Ms. Agarwal, learned counsel appearing for the Applicant that the incident, if any, has taken th th place between 17 July, 2019 to 10 June, 2021 and the F. I. R.
has th been lodged after a period of about five years, i. e. , on 6 July, 2026. She submits that, in any event, the entire amount allegedly misappropriated along with the interest, has already been deposited with the Post Office. She further submits that the Applicant has no other criminal antecedents. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, she submits that the Applicant be granted anticipatory bail. th 17 August, 2026 skt 5. On the other hand, Mr. Walve, learned APP, submits that the amounts belonging to various depositors with the Post Office has been misappropriated and, therefore, the application for anticipatory bail deserves to be rejected. He further submits that there is delay in lodging the F. I. R. as no appropriate instructions had been issued by the higher authorities. 6. Perusal of the record shows that even as per the prosecution th th case, the incident has taken place between 17 July, 2019 to 10 th June, 2021. The F. I. R.
has been lodged on 6 July, 2026. Thus, there is delay of more than 5 years in filing the F. I. R. The amount involved in the crime along with interest has been deposited by the th Applicant in the Post Office on 24 June, 2021. Prima facie, there is an unexplained delay of more than five years in lodging the F. I. R. There are no other antecedents. In view of the facts and circumstances, a case is made out for grant of Anticipatory Bail. Accordingly, the following order is passed: O R D E R (a) In the event of arrest of the Applicant-Sameer Pandurang Bankar in connection with C. R. No. 63 of th 17 August, 2026 skt 2026 registered with Haveli Police Station, Pune Rural, the Applicant is directed to be released on bail on furnishing P. R. Bond in the sum of Rs. 50,000/- with one or two solvent sureties each in the like amount. (b) The Applicant shall attend the concerned Police st rd Station twice in a month on 1 and 3 Monday between between 11:00 a. m. to 01:00 p. m.
till filing of the chargesheet and shall cooperate with the investigation. In addition, the Applicant shall attend th th the concerned Police Station on 27 and 28 August, 2026 between 11:00 a. m. to 02:00 p. m. (c) The Applicant shall furnish his cell phone number and residential address to the Investigating Officer and shall keep the same updated, in case of any change thereto. (d) The Applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat, or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade such a person from disclosing the facts to the Court or to any Police personnel. (e) The Applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution th 17 August, 2026 skt evidence and shall not contact or influence the Complainant or any witness in any manner. (f) The Applicant shall not leave India without prior permission of the Court. 7. The Anticipatory Bail Application is disposed of accordingly. [MADHAV J. JAMDAR, J. ] th 17 August, 2026
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