CRLP/16083/2014 of Boreddy Rama Krishna Reddy, Vs The State of Andhra Pradesh on 31 December 2014

ORDER:

The petitioners, who are accused Nos.1 to 3, filed thepresent application under Sections 437 and 439 Cr.P.C. seekingenlargement on bail in Crime No.119 of 2014 of K.V.Palli PoliceStation, Chittoor District, registered for the offences punishableunder Sections 353, 307, 379, 120 (B) IPC, Section 20 (i) (c) (iii)(iv) (x) of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967, Rule -3 ofSandalwood and Red sandalwood Transit Rules, 1989, Section 29of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 and Section 55 (2) of theBiological Diversity Act, 2002.

The case of the prosecution is that on 10.11.2014, the Sub-Inspector of Police, K.V.Palli Police Station, while conducting vehicle check between T.Sundupalli and K.V.Palli villages, foundtwo persons coming on motor cycle along with a white colourplastic bag. On seeing the police, the said persons left the vehicleand tried to escape. The police chased them and with greatdifficulty apprehended them. On search they found four red sandalwood longs weighing about 35 ½ kgs. worth Rs.71,000/-. Pursuant to the confession made by accused Nos.1 and 2,accused No.3 was arrested. Basing on these allegations theabove case came to be registered.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned PublicProsecutor appearing for the respondent-State.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that it is highlyimpossible to transport red sander logs on a motor cycle and the entire case is foisted implicating the petitioner in the crime. Thelearned Public Prosecutor opposed the petition contending thathaving regard to the size of the logs, it cannot be said that theycould not have carried them on a bike.

In Central Bureau of Investigation v. V.Vijay Sai Reddy[[1]], wherein the Apex Court observed as under :

“28. While granting bail, the court has to keep in mindthe nature of accusation, the nature of evidence insupport thereof, the severity of the punishment whichconviction will entail, the character of the accused,circumstances which are peculiar to the accused,reasonable possibility of securing the presence of theaccused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of thewitnesses being tampered with, the larger interests ofthe public/State and other similar consideration. Ithas also to be kept in mind that for the purpose ofgranting bail, the Legislature has used the words“reasonable grounds for believing” instead of “theevidence” which means the Court dealing with thegrant of bail can only satisfy it as to whether there isa genuine case against the accused and that theprosecution will be able to produce prima facieevidence in support of the charge. It is not expected,at this stage, to have the evidence establishing theguilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.”

There is no dispute that the contraband, which has beenseized are red sander logs. CITES as well as International Unionfor Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has acknowledged that RedSandalwood is an endangered species. Red sandalwood isspecies of India seen nowhere in the world. It is found only inSouth India, especially in Cuddapah and Chittoor in the States ofTamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh border. Red sandalwoodpossesses medicinal properties viz., an anticoagulant, improves

Conclusion

local circulation and used on traumatic wounds, aberrations andbruises. The Government of A.P. has banned the sale of RedSanders even by private parties, the wood is of huge demand inJapan, China and Western world and is very costly and it isincluded in the negative list of plant species for export purposes,implemented by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministryof Commerce, placing restrictions on international trade of RedSanders. Since large scale smuggling of Red Sanders is howeverreported from various quarters, to protect the species, a proposalwas made by the State of A.P. to Government of India for itsinclusion in Schedule VI of the Act. Sandalwood finds no place inCITES but was included in the Red List of IUCN as "vulnerable"and hence call for serious attention by the Central Government,considering the fact that all the sandalwood growing states havestated that it faces extinction. (T.N.Godavarman Thirumulpad v.

[2]Union of India and others).

The material placed before the Court would show that thepetitioners were arrested while they are carrying red sander logswhich were of 14” wide and weighing about 5 kgs. each. Therefore, the argument of the learned counsel for the petitionersthat it is highly impossible to believe that the petitioners couldhave carried red sander logs on a motor bike, cannot be acceptedsince the size of the red sander logs are only 14” and the samecan be easily carried on a motor bike. Since the investigation isstill pending, I am not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner at thisstage.

Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is dismissed.

31.12.2014gkv

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C. PRAVEEN KUMAR, J

A perusal of the material would show that though thepetitioner is involved in commission of grave offence, but hisparticipation in attack is not established. The material on recorddoes not anywhere show that he is likely to evade the process oflaw or is likely to tamper with the evidence.

The other circumstance relied upon by the learned counselfor the petitioner is with regard to conversation between A-1 andA-12 wherein A-12 is said to have conveyed his annoyanceexpressed by A-5 to A-7 for the delay in execution of plan, as it isto be noted that there is no direct conversation between A-5 to A-7with A-1 for the delay in execution of the plan. If A-12 is alleged tohave expressed the same, it would definitely not be a mitigatingcircumstances against A-5 to A-7.

[1]2013(7) SCALE 15[2](2012)4 SCC 362