After the presentation of the chargesheet, default bail may be cancelled on grounds other than default: Supreme Court

The CBI's appeal seeking the cancellation of bail for T Gangi Reddy, the primary suspect in the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy, a former Kadapa MP and the uncle of current AP chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, was referred to the Telangana high court by the Supreme Court.

AP high court rejected the CBI's argument.

While granting the CBI's argument and instructing the HC to rule on the merits, a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravi Kumar stated that police can always request the cancellation of the default bail given to an accused provided they present a compelling case in their charge sheet.

Because the trial court in Kadapa had given the accused default bail by CrPC section 167(2), which permits automatic bail if the prosecution fails to file a charge sheet within the required time frame, the AP high court rejected the CBI's argument.

Court observation 

The High Court ruling that default bail cannot be revoked based on merits, as the court by the Supreme Court, "would give a premium to the lethargy or dishonesty of investigative authorities," the court stated. Justice MR Shah read out the operative part of the ruling while remanding the case to the High Court, saying "Mere non-filing of chargesheet will not be enough when a strong case is made out. Court cannot be compelled to not consider the gravity of thoffensece or examine the merits of the case when the accused was not released on merits earlier."