The High Court · 2025

Petition under Section 480 & 482 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to grant bail to the Petitioner in connection with COR.No. 459 of 2011-12, On the File of P.S Prohibition and Excise Narayankhed, for the offences punishable U/s. 20(b)(ii) of NDPS Act,1985 of the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short the NDPS Act) to enlarge the Petitioner on bail. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri Kasireddy Mohan Chandra Has, Advocate for the Petitioner and the Public Prosecutor (IG/AP) on behalf of the Respondent The Court made the following Order:- THE HONOURABLE SMT WSTICE K. SUJANA CRIMINAL PETITION No.66 of 2O25 ORDER: The present Criminal Petition is irled praying this Court to enlarge the petitioner who is arrayed as accused No. 1 in COR.No.459 of 2Oll-12 on the file of the Prohibition and Excise Police Station' Narayankhed, under Sections the offences Punishable the Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic registered for 2o(b)(ii) of Substances Act, 1985, on bail'

2. The brief facts of the case are that on O1'O3'2012' Prohibition and Excise officials received re liable information that the petitioner/accused possessed Dry Ganja in a house at Fathu Naik Thanda' Enakapally (V)' Mandal, Sangareddy District' The Olficials raided the house, seized 18O kgs of Dry Ganja, and registered zr case under Section 2O(b) of the NDPS Act-1985 against the petitioner/ accused. The petitioner was shown as absconding, but was later arrested on 05'l l'2024' and I 2 SKS,J Crl.P.No.66 of 2025 ') remanded to judicial custody by the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Narayankhed. Aggrieved thereby, this Criminal Petition is ftled.

3. Heard Sri Kasireddy Mohan Chandra, learned counsel for petitioner, and Sri Syed Yasar Mamoon, learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for respondent - State.

4. l,earned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is innocent of the offence with which he was charged and has been falsely implicated in the case. He contended that all allegations against the petitioner are false, baseless, and untrue, with no evidence to support the claim that he possessed dry ganja in a house. He lamented ttrat there are no independent witnesses or neighbors to corroborate the involvernent of petitioner and that the police have not followed mandatory provisions under the NDPS Act. He cited the decision rendered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the Ct 3 SI(S,J Crl.P.No.66 of 2025 case of Union of tldla \f3. Rattan fqllik Habul 1 , emphas2ing that tJle primary consideration when granting bail is whether there zrre reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is not guilgr and will not commit an offence while on bail. He asserted that the petitioner is a law-abiding citizen wittr no prior criminat record, and his arresl and detention are unwarranted. Therefore, prayed this Court to grant bail to tJre petitioner by allou,ing this criminal petition.

5. On the other hand, learned Additional public Prosecutor opposed the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner stating that the allegations leveled against the petitioner are of serious nature as he was allegedly in possession of 18O kgs of dry ganja, which is i:ommercial quantity. Therefore, prayed the Court to dismiss the criminal petition.

6. Havirrg regard to the rival submissions made and on going t hrough the material placed on record, it is ' zoog t scc lcrt; s3t 4 SKS,J Crl.P.No-6 ot2025 ,') noted that the limited grievance of learned counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner was falsely implicated in the case and that he is no way concerned with the alleged offence, whereas, it is the specific stand of leamed Additional Pubtc Prosecutor that substantial quantity of dry ganja, weighing about 18O kgs was seized from the petitioner. 7 . At this stage, it is imperative to note that the contraband seized from the petitioner is a commercial quantity. That being so, it is relevant to extract Section 37 ol the NDPS Act, which reads as under: "37. Offences to be cognizable and non bailable. -- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of S7al,--(al every offence punishable under this Act shall be cognizable; (b) no person accused of an of{ence punishable for l[offences under section 19 or section 24 or section 27A and also for offences involving commercial quantityl shall be released on bail or on his own bond unless 4 5 S(S,J Crl.P.No.66 of 2025 \ (i) the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity to oppose the application for such release, ald (ii) where the Public Prosecutor opposes the application, the court is satisfied that tl:ere are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likelv to commit any offence while on bail. (2) The limitations on granting of bail specified in clause (b) of sub-section (l) are in addition t() the limitations under ttre Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 {2 of 19741 ot any other Law f()r the time being in force on granting of bail.'

8. In vieu, thereof, it is clear that Section 37 of the NDPS Act manclates that offences involving commercial quantities be non-bailable, requiring reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commit further oflences while on bail. Given the.serious allegations against the petitioner, and tle fact that he is the prime accused, this Court is not satisfied that conditions for granting bail under Section 37 are met. \ 6 SKS,J Crl-P.No.66 of2025 o) Therefore, the criminal petition lacks merit and the same is liable to be dismissed.

9. Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is dismissed. Miscellaneous applications, if any pending, shall stand closed. //TRUE COPYII Sd/. T. TIRUMA DEVI ASSISTANT RE ISTRAR To, SECTION OFFICER 1 The Station House Officer, Prohibition & Excise P.S., Narayankhed. 2 Two CCs to the Public Prosecutor, High Court for the State of Telangana, Hyderabad [OUT]

3. One CC to Sri Kasireddy Mohan Chandra Has, Advocate [OPUC] 4 Two CD Copies Vfr v(' L S I c a)t' ) '17. iia '/025 .. c a t o * PA1 HIGH COURT DATED:1010112025 4 ORDER GRLP.No.66 o1F2025 DISMISSING THE CRLP ?t- lv\'t-\>t 1cofl^D,