2020 INSC 0567
                                 1

ITEM NO.2+3+4 Court 3 (Video Conferencing)                SECTION II-A

                        SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
                                      RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

                        SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) Diary No(s).24646/2020

(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 09-11-2020
in CRLAS No. 4278/2020 passed by the High Court of Judicature at
Bombay)

ARNAB MANORANJAN GOSWAMI                              Petitioner(s)

                                 VERSUS

THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ORS.                       Respondent(s)

WITH

SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) Diary No(s). 24647/2020

SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) Diary No(s). 24648/2020

Date : 11-11-2020 These petitions were called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD
                 HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE INDIRA BANERJEE

For Petitioner(s)       Mr. Harish Salve, Sr. Advocate
                        Mr. Siddharth Bhatnagar, Sr. Adv
                        Mr. Abaad Ponda, Sr. Adv.
                        Ms. Malvika Trivedi, Adv.
                        Mr. Saket Shukla, Adv.
                        Mr. Vasanth Rajasekaran, Adv.
                        Mr. Mrinal Ojha, Adv.
                        Mr. Debarshi Dutta, Adv.
                        Mr. Rajat Pradhan, Adv.
                        Mr. Biswadeep Chakravorty, Adv.
                        Ms. Madhavi Doshi, Adv.
                        Mr. Sanjeev Sambasivan, Adv.
                        Mr. Siddhant Kumar, Adv.
                        Ms. Kajri Roy, Adv.
                        Ms. Chetna N. Rai, Adv.
                        Ms. Sheena Iype, Adv.
                        Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR

Signature Not Verified  Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Senior Advocate
                        Ms. Rashi Bansal, AOR
Digitally signed by     Ms. Esha Bhadoria, Advocate
Sanjay Kumar            Mr. Sameer Singh, Advocate
Date: 2020.11.11
17:00:10 IST
Reason:

                        Mr. Mukul Rohtagi, Senior Advocate
                        Mr. Vijay Agarwal, Advocate
For Respondent(s)                          2

                   Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Advocate
                   Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal AOR
                   Mr. Ishwar Nankni, Adv.
                   Mr. Aditya Kanodia, Advocate
                   Mr. Samir Ali Khan, Advocate
                   Mr. Mudit Jain, Advocate
                   Mr. Rahul Agarwal, Adv.
                   Mr. Nishant Rao, Advocate
                   Mr. Ankit Kohli, Advocate

                   Mr. Kabil Sibal, Sr. Adv.
                   Mr. Amit Desai, Sr. Adv.
                   Mr.Devdatta Kamat Sr. Adv.
                   Mr. Rahul Chitnis Adv.
                   Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR
                   Mr. Dipak Thakre, Adv.
                   Mr. Hemant Shah, Adv.
                   Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv.

                   Mr. C. U. Singh, Sr. Adv.
                   Mr. F. I. Choudhury, AOR
                   Mr. Noor Ul Islam , Adv.
                   Mr. Vaibhav Karnik, Adv.

   UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
                                            O R D E R

1  Leave granted.

2  We have heard Mr Harish Salve, Mr Mukul Rohatgi, Mr Siddharth Bhatnagar and

   Mr Gopal Sankaranarayanan, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the

   appellants.

3  Mr Kapil Sibal, learned Senior Counsel appears on behalf of the State of

   Maharashtra, Mr Amit Desai, learned Senior Counsel appears on behalf of the

   second respondent and Mr C U Singh, learned Senior Counsel appears on behalf

   of the fifth respondent.

4  Mr Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General appears on behalf of the Union of

   India.
                                      3

5  The third respondent, namely, the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai need not be

   served separately having regard to the appearance by Mr Kapil Sibal and Mr

   Amit Desai, respectively, for the State and for the investigating officer.

6  Arguments have been heard during the course of the day.

7  The appeals before this Court arise from the order of the Division Bench of the

   High Court of Judicature at Mumbai dated 9 November 2020, by which the

   applications for the grant of the interim bail moved by the appellants pending

   the disposal of their writ petitions have been rejected.

8  The submissions of the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the rival

   contesting parties would be evaluated in the judgment for which reasons shall

   follow. The judgment is reserved.

9  We are of the considered view that the High Court was in error in rejecting the

   applications for the grant of interim bail. We accordingly order and direct that

   Arnab Manoranjan Goswami, Feroz Mohammad Shaikh and Neetish Sarda shall

   be released on interim bail, subject to each of them executing a personal bond in

   the amount of Rs 50,000 to be executed before the Jail Superintendent. They

   are, however, directed to cooperate in the investigation and shall not make any

   attempt to interfere with the ongoing investigation or with the witnesses.

10 The concerned jail authorities and the Superintendent of Police, Raigad are
          directed to ensure that this order is complied with forthwith.

11 A certified copy of this order shall be issued during the course of the day.

   (SANJAY KUMAR-I)                      (ANITA RANI AHUJA)
        AR-CUM-PS                        ASSISTANT REGISTRAR