Senior Advocate IH Syed denied anticipatory bail by Gujarat court

A Gujarat court on Monday denied anticipatory bail to former Assistant Solicitor General and Senior Advocate IH Syed in an extortion case [IH Syed v State of Gujarat]..The application was made apprehending arrest in a case registered against him for the offences of extortion, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, intentional insult, criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement. However, the plea was refused by the Additional Sessions Judge DK Soni.“Considering the entire police papers, considering the contentions of FIR, this is not a fit case to exercise discretionary powers in favour of the accused at this stage,” the order recorded..Syed claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case which lacked credibility, and the complaint was only made to get out of a settlement agreement based on which the Gujarat High Court had previously quashed a First Information Report (FIR).Further, it was submitted that the present FIR was filed out of enmity and with an intention to extract revenge..On the other hand, the State argued that the dispute arose from a land dispute between the complainant, and a co-accused and to settle the dispute Syed and a co-accused forced the complainant to sign the settlement agreement. It was also submitted that they beat up the complainant, threatened to kill him and his family members, and threatened to implicate him in a false rape case.Anticipatory bail was opposed on the grounds that the applicant may tamper with evidence or flee, especially since the investigation was incomplete..The Additional Sessions Judge, on examining the contentions, found that a case for anticipatory bail was not made out. "Having heard learned advocates appearing on behalf of the respective sides and having given anxious thought and consideration to various contentions put forward by the respective parties, it appears that a case is for anticipatory bail is not made out," the Court ordered. Judge Soni went on to note that as per well-settled law, a detailed examination of the evidence and elaborate documentation of merits was not necessary. With this, the plea was rejected..Senior Advocate Asim Pandya and advocate NL Jain appeared for Syed. Additional Public Prosecutor PD Vyas appeared for the State and advocate YJ Patel represented the complainant..[Read Order]