The High Court · 2025

State of Telangana, Represented by PP, High Court at Hyderabad. ...Respondent Petition under Section 480 & 483 of B.N.S.S. praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to release the petitioner/Al on bail in Cr.No.233 of 2024 ol Kodad Rural Police Station, Suryapet District. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon. hearing the arguments of Sri P Prabhakar Reddy, Advocate for the Petitioner and the Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent State. The Court made the following: ORDER t THE HONOURABLE SMT JUSTICE K. SUJANA CRIMINAI PETITION No.99 of 2O2S ORDER: Tl re p,r656n1 Criminal petition is filed pravrn g this Court tr i en large the petitioner who is arrayed as accusecl No. 1 in lrinre No.233 of 2Cl24 before the Kodad Rural police Station, Srrryapet District, registered for the ofr.ences punisha rle under Sections 29 and 2o(b)(ii)(c) of the Narcotic Drugs And ))sychotropic Substances Act, 19g5, (for short 'NDPSJ cn bzLil.

2. Th,: lrrief facts of the case are that on Novembe - l'7 , 2024, at around 16:OO hours, Sub-lnspector of Police, Ko<lad Rural police Station,. received information about a pe-rjon transporting galja from Vijayawada to Hyderatra I ir a Honda City car with registration nulnber AP 1 1 ,{},{ !)()9 1 . The car was intercepted at Chimiryaia Cross Roz d, and the occupant, petitioner/A 1, conlessed to transporti rg ganja. A search of the car revealed 37 packets of ganja rreighing 32.46 kg, which were seized. petitioner confesserl to have acted on instructions from A2, rvho had 2 SKS,J Crl.P.No.99 of 2025 provided the car and an advance Payment of Rs. 3 lakhs to transport the ganja. The seizrd ganj a and petitioner were taken to the police station, and a case was registered against petitioner and A2. Aggrieved thereby, this Criminal Petition is hled.

3. Heard Sri P.Prabhakar Reddy, learned counsel for petitioner, and Sri Syed Yasar Mamoon, learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of respondent - State. 4 . Learned counsei for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is innocent of the alleged offences and has been falsely implicated with the intention of harassment. He contended that the petitioner confessed to be merely the driver of the car, acting on the instructions of 42, and not the owner of the ganja. He asserted that the pelitioner had allegedly received an advance payment of Rs.3 lakhs and was promised an additional remuneration. He averred that the petitioner was unaware of the address or location where the ganja was available and that A2 trad avoided disclosing this information. Furthermore, as per the petitioner, A2 is the actuai purchaser of the ganja and that the Sub- \ 3 SKS,J Crl P.No.!9 of 2025 Inspect( r oi- Police failed to follow the proper pror;edure under r he NDPS Act when seizing the contraband. He submitt,:d :hat the petitioner, a resident of Gandhl lrlagar, Barshi rillage, Solapur district, has been in judicial cr.rstody since his arrest on November 17, 2024, and fears; that further ( leterrtion will cause irreparable harm to his frrmily, as he is the sole earning member. Therefore, he prayr,:d the Court to grarrt bail to the petitioner by allowing thrs crjminal petition.

5. Ctn the other hand, learned Additional F\rblic Prosectrtor ol)posed the submissions made by the lerLrned counsel lor the petitioner stating that the quantun of recovenr ,rf contraband constitutes commercial quanti[. and that the l iarno was in possession of petitioner, on obta:ning instructio ns from A2 to transport the same in the vehicle under bearilrg No.Ap 1 1 AM 9991. He contendecl that releasing the petitioner on bail, could lead to him committir g similar offences. Therefore, prayed the Cou rt to dismiss th e cr;minal petition. 4 SKS,J Crl.P.No-99 of2025

6. Having regard to the rival submissions made and on going through the material placed on record, it is noted that a search of the said car revealed 37 packets of ganja weighing 37.46 kg, and the said contraband is commercial quantity. That being so, it is relevant to extract Section 37 of 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, lg73 (2 of P7al,--(al every offence punishatrle under this Act shall be cognizable; (b) no person accused of an offence punishable for l[offences undqr section 19 or section 24 or section 27A and also for offences involving commercial quantity] shall be released on bail or on his own bond unless-- i ,. ,/' .: 5 SXS,J Crl.P.No.99 of2025 i) tne Public Prosecutor has been given an , rppo rtunity to oppose the application for ;ucl-r release, and ii) 'rhere the Pubtic Prosecutor opposes the rpptication, the court is satisfred tllat there ue reasonable grounds for believing that he s n.ot guilty of such offence and that he is rot likely to commit any offence while on rail. 2) Ihe limitations on granting of bail spec'.fred in clause (b) of sub-section (1) are n actdition to the limitations under the Code rf (l rirnina-l Procedure, 1973 12 of 1974) or rny other law for the time being in force on granting of bail." 7 . In. r iev' thereof, it is clear that Section 37 of rhe IIIDPS Act mandates that offences involving commercial quan tities be non-brLilable, requiring reasonable grounds to believ': the accused i; n{)t guilty and unlikely to commit further offe nces while ore bail Given the serious set of allegations le reled I , i 5 SI{S,J Crt.P.No.99 of2025 (. against the petitioner with regard to his involvement in possession of 32.46 kgs of ganja which were seized, this Court is not satisfied that conditions for granting bail under Section 37 are met. Further, the investigation in the case is not yet completed and the petitioner is prime accused in the case. Therefore, the criminal petition lacks merit and the same is liable to be dismissed.

8. Accordingly, this Criminal petition is dismissed. Miscellaneous applications, if any pending, shall stand closed //TRUE COPY// Sd/- MOHD. ISMAIL A ts NT REGISTRAR CTION OFFICER To, '1. The Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate at Kodad. 2. The Station House Officer Kodad (R) Police Station, Suryapet. 3. One CC to Sri. P Prabhakar Reddy, Advocate [OPUC] 4. Two CCs to Public Prosecutor, High Court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad.(OUT)

5. Two CD Copies YJR/gh HIGH COUFIT DATED:071(t212025 ORDER CRLP.No.99 of 2025 FE 5t"a ({ 0t .-.] ,l 0?5 ($ ( >i z o -5 t -,c (J 7, !-l'+ DISMISSING OF THE CRIMINAL PETITION