The High Court · 2025

Petition under Section 480 &483 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the fulemorandum of Grounds of criminal Petitiion the High court may be pleased to enlarge the Petitioner/ Accused No. 1 on Regular Bail, in Cr. NCB F. No.4gl 1/ 1120241 NCB/HZU of P.S. Kukatpatty (On the fite of Honbte I Addt, Sessions Judge, tMedchal [Malkajgiri District, At Kushaiguda) The petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri p_Vishnu Vardhana Reddy Advocate for the petitioners and lVlr. V.T. Kalyan for Respondent. The Cour made the following: ORDER THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREENIVAS RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No.3473 of 2025 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is flled under Sections 480 and 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Santritha, 2023 (for short 'BNSS') seeking bail to the petitioner/accused No.l in Crime NCB No.F.No.48/1/l|2j24|I\ICBIHZU ol P.S. Kukatpalll, registered tbr the olfences punishable under Sections 8(c) r/ri, l0(bxii)(C), 27-A,28 and29 of Narcotic Drugs and Psl,chotropic Substances Aot. 1985 (for short 'NDPS Act')

2. Tlre case of the prosecr-rtion is that on I I .04.?.024, on receipt of credible information, Police apprchcnded the petition(rr and other accused and seized 721.42 kgs of ganja. Basing on thc sarne, Crime NCB No.F.No.48/ I /1 /2024lNCB/HZU was rcgisrered.

3. Heard Mr.P.Vishnuvardhan Reddy,, learnei counsel lor the petitioner and Mr.V.T.Kalyan, leamed counsel for respondent

4. Learned counsel lor the petitioner submitted that the petilioner has not committed the oft'ence and he w,as talsely implicated in the above crime. [{e fufther submitted that respondcn, filed complaint a \ 2 basing on the confession statement given by the other accused No.2 and the said statement is not permissible under law to initiate proceedings against the petitioner under the provisions of Section 67 of Cr.P.C. He further submitted that the petitioner is only a driver and had no knowledge about 7ll..l2 kgs. o1' dry ganja and he transpofted the contraband in his vehiclc and delivered it only as per the instructions given by the owner. He lurthct submitted that the respondent has not made the owner of the vehicle as accused and the petitioner was arrested on 12.04.2024 and sirrce then he is in judicial custody. He furlher submitted that the petitioner is not having criminal antecedents and the petitioner shall abide by the conditions, which are going to be imposed by this Cour1. and he is ready to cooperative with the investigation. I{ence, the petitioner may be enlarged on bail.

5. Per contra, leamed counsel for respondent submitted that the petitioner had knowledge abor.rt the contraband, which was seized lrom the vehicle driven by him and accused No.2 was already arrested and he is in judiciat custody and accused No.3 was absconding. He furllrer submitted that the respondent already filed application belore the Concemed Court requesting to issue NBW and the said application is pending and the contraband seized is 721 .42 kgs ofdry ganj a' which is / commercial quantify as per the provisions ol Section 3i of NDPS Act and the petitioner is not entitled for grant of bail.

6. Having considered the rival submissions rnade by respective parlies and after pen-rsal of the rnaterial available on re:ot'd, it reveals that the police seized 721.42 kgs. ol dry ganja. which is comtnercial quantity and accused No.2 was already arrested and he is in judicial custody and accused No.3 was absconding and thc investigation is under progress. At this stage, it is perlinent to note Section 37 of the NDPS Act. which reads as under: "37. Offences to be cognizablc and non-bailable. -- (l) Notwithstanding anl'thing contained in thc (locle oI L rirnilal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974),-(a) everv ofl'encc punishabie under this Act shall be cognizable; (b) no person accused ol an otfencc punishable firl lIt'flences runder section 19 or scction 24 or section 27A and llso fbr offences involving commcrcial quantit)l shall be releas:d on bail or on his orvn bond unless-- (i) the t'ublic Prosecutor has been givcn au opportunit) t(i r)pposc the application for such release, atrd (ii) rvhere the Public Prosccutor opposes thc applicatiorr llre oottrt is satisficd that there are reasonable groLtnds lot belicr irrr that he is not guilty of such offcnce and that llc is not likell o commit any offencc while on bail. (2) The limitations on granting olbail specified in clau.e (b) of sub-section (1) are rn addition to the limilatiots trndcr Llrc Llodc of t \ \ t I t t I 4 Criminal Procedurc. 1973 (2 of 1974) or any other Iarv lor thc time being in lorce on granting of bail.,,

7. In view thereof, Section 37 of the NDpS Act mandates that offences involving colllmercial quantities be non_bailable, requiring reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and unlike.ly to commit further offences u,hile on bail. I lence, since the allegations levelled against the petitioner are serious in nature, this Court is not satisfied that conditions for. granting bail under Section 37 are met. Therefore, the crirninal petilion lacks merit and the same is tiable to be dismissed. 8 Accordingly, this Criminal petition is dismissed. Miscellaneous applications. pending il any, shall stand closed SD/- MOHD.ISMAIL DEPUry REGISTRAR sEcrtoN otrFtcER //TRUE COPY// To, Kusaiguda. '1 . Hon'ble I Additiionat Sessions Judge, Medchal Malkajgiri District at 2. One CC to SRt p VTSHNUVARDHANA REDDY Advocate tOpUCI 3. One CC to SRt. V T KALYAN Advocate [OPUC] 4. Two CD Copies PSNR/PSL I HIGH COURT DATED:2810312025 --. r'', .:14 a{. ', L, 10 I]EF zffi "1t' A6 ji rr, -, G I ))_ ti) /i {', ORDER CRLP.No.3473 ot 2025 DISMISSING THE CRIMINAL PETITION 6 s P