Blitz Bureau
THE Supreme Court on June 16 granted anticipatory bail to Inalo Zhimomi, former Principal District and Session Judge of the Dimapur District & Session Court, in a case over allegations of misappropriating the bond surety amount, according to Live Law. A Bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Manmohan granted anticipatory bail subject to the petitioner cooperating with the investigation till the matter is finally decided by the Gauhati High Court.
The prosecution alleged that the former judge misappropriated Rs. 14,35,000 of the cash bail deposited by the accused persons in connection with 28 pending criminal cases. The missing cash bail was entered in the cash bail register for the year 2024. Pursuant to this, a first information report under Sections 316(4)/ (5), 377 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 was registered through a letter from the current Principal District Judge, Dimapur under the directions of the High Court.
Whereas, the petitioner’s case is that when he was posted as a Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kohima, he made a representation vide letter in 2013 to the then Protocol Judge of the High Court in which he flagged administrative issues, including the issue of cash surety.
He alleged that he has been made an accused of misappropriating the money. The petitioner has challenged the entire process as devoid of principles of natural justice and also statutory rights and laws laid down by the Supreme Court before the Gauhati High Court through a writ petition, which is pending adjudication.
On May 29, the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, had rejected the petitioner’s plea for pre-arrest bail.
