In Union of India v. Shri Shiv Shaker Kesari

Petition under Section 480 & 483 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/Accused No.1 in Cr. No. 1012 of 2O24 of Narsingi Police Station, Ranga Reddy District This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri MD FASIUDDIN, Advocate for the Petitioner and SRI SYED YASAR MAMOON, ADDITIONAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR on behalf of the Sole Respondent The Court made the following: ORDER THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J' SREENTVAS RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No.778 8of2O25 / ORDER: This Criminal Petition is hled under Sections 480 and 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to, as 'BNSS] seeking bail to the petitioncr/ accused No' 1 in connection with Crime No 1012 of 2024 of Narsingi Police Station, Cyberabad Commissionerate, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 8(c) r/w 22(cl, 27 A" 27 (al ar,d 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Act, 1985 (for short 'NDPS Act')'

2.'lhecaseoftheprosecutionisthaton15OT'2024'onreceipt of credible information that the petitioner and other accused were in possession of huge quantity of Narcotic drugs' the Detective Inspector of Policc, Narsir-rgi, along with his stafi and mediators went to the subject premises and arrested the petitioner and other accused, who were in possession of 199'1O grams of Cocaine' and seized the said drug along with mate rial objects i'e'' Republic of Guine-Bissau Passport bearing No'tutu{N02456' iPhone 15 Pro Max bearing No.9O27 7 43962 and 7Oa5997 a47 (eSIM) and Samsung Galaxy A7 1 bearing Nos.8 1 19856 07 6, 7 627 3O24O9 and WhatsApp No.+2349066 1247823 which is used at thc time of commission of \ f 2 offence. Basing on the said complaint, the registered for I he above said offences. pnsen t crime u,as

3. Heard Mr.Mohd. pctirioner/accused No. I, Additional Public prosecutor, Fasiuddin, learned (:( unscl for the and Mr. Syed yasar Il lmoon, learned appearing for the res l.rrnrlerrt-Statc J,r . scribed under rittocl thar thc Learned counsel for the pedtioner subrr.itte ; that the re was falsely

4. petitioner has not committed any offence, and implicated in ti.re present crime. He lurther sulr. police have not followed the mandatory procedure the provisions of NDpS Act while conducting sear( r and seizure. Though the prosecu lion alleged that 199. 1 O gram s , I Cr>caine u.as seizcd in the 1)rcsent crime from the posscssion ol rl.r. p(:titioncr, it is belou, comrnercial quantity. The petitioner rv:; arre.sted on 15.O7.2024, and since then he is in judicial custocl-] rnd the entire invcstigation has been completed and police hled ch rrge sheel on 11 - 12.2024. I{ence, further custody of the petitrorr, r.is no more required and question of interference of the petirioner in the tnvestigation does not arise. He further submitted lat thr: policc have also seizcd thc passport of the petitioner. Hen<.r , quc:;tion of flee away from the counl:ry does not arise. The petitrr ner is read.v and willing to abidc by the conditions that may be in:posed by this Coufl. In supporr ol his contention, hc relicd upon rr,. judgmenl z' ,,, '- 3 of fie High Court of Delhi in Ansar Ahmed v' State (Government of NCT of Delhill'

5. Per contra, learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted the grave offence under the that the Petitioner has committed provisions of the NDPS Act and the police seized contraband' namely 199.10 grams of cocainc, which is a commercial quantlty' He further submitted that the investigation ofltcer after conducting investigation filed charge sheet and the same was numbered as S.C.NDPS No. 167 of 2025 on the hle of the I Aclditional District and Sessions Judge, L.B'Nagar' He further submitted that the 1S also involved in another Crime No 46 4 of 2019 petrtloner registered for the offence under Section 8(c) r/w 22(cl of NDPS Act' Hcncc, the petitioner is not entitlcd for grant o[ bail'

6. Having considered the rival submissions made by respective parties and after perusal of the material available on record' it reveals that the police seized contraband, name ly' 199 I0 grams of Cocaine. As per the NDPS Act, 2 grams of cocaine is a small quantity and 100 grams of cocaine is commercial quantity' Hence, the contraband seized in the present case is treated as commercial quantity. l,earned Additional public Prosecutor placed the written instructions furnished by the Sub-tnspector of Police, I 123(zoo5) DLT 563.\ \ 4 Narsingi, another which reveals that the petitioner is rlso zrccused in Crime No.464 of 2019 registered for th:: offence under Section 8(c) r1w 22(cl of NDpS Act of the prohi I rion and Station, Dhoolpet. The record further reveals thar officer after conducting investigation filed char6 e sheet and the same was numbered as S.C. NDpS No.167 of 2O2!., rnd the same is pending on the lile ot I Additional District and S essions Judge, he in,,,estigation Excise L.B_Nagar.

7. Insofar as the contention of the learned crunsel for the petitioller that thc petitioner was arrested on 15.07 1024 and since thcn he is in judicial custody and entire investi5l:, r.ion has been completcd and charge sheet is hled and thereit,r:, tal:ing into consideration the period of custody, the petitionc:. is enlitlcd for grant of bail is conccrned, in Mohit Aggarwal ..rs. Narcotics Control Bureau2, the Hon,ble Supreme Court hel<l at pa ragraph 18, which reads as follons srti-fi-r;-., " 1{J. In our opinion the narrow parameters of bail available under Section 37 of the Act, have no been ;; ;; ;,; :".",." lr ;:".ffi.:,,T.T,:,_: :=,],;; criminar Lppcal Nos. .. .. Leave to Appeal (crimin le grounds tc i relieve ;::T;? r;;':Hi:. ; ::"3 ", 'z (2022) 18 scc 374 is not guilty of the offence alleged against him, for him to have been admitted to barl. The length o[ the period of his custody or the fact that the charge-sheet has been hled ald the trial has commenced are by themselves not considerations that can be treated as persuasive grounds for granting relief to the respondent under Section 37 of the NDPS Act.." In the above said judgment, the Hon'ble Supreme Court 8. specilicatly held that the length of the period of custody of the accused even after hling of the charge sheet or if the trial commenced, is not a ground for giant o[ bait, especially thc mandatory requirement as stipulated under Section 37 of the NDPS Act. g. In Mohit Aggarwal (supra), the Hon'Lrle Supreme Court furLlrcr hctd that humanitarian ground also cannot be a ground lbr grant of bail in NDPS Act cases.

10. In Union of India v. Shri Shiv Shaker Kesari3, the Hon'ble Supreme Court held in para No.13, which rcads as follows: )

13. In the instant case, it appears that there was a statement recorded under Section 67 of the Act' The respondent has taken a stand that the same was under coercion. The acceptability of such a stand is a mattcr of trial. Additionally, the High Court has not indicated any reason as to why it was of the view that the contraband 1 ) I (2008) 7 scc 798 6 articles wcrc not seized frn- tL- ^..^r.--: the accused_re"o"":";:,,tt"- the exclusive pos ;essio, of I 1. Taking into consideration the facts and circr,r rnstances of the case as well as the principle laid down by Lhe .J rn,ble Supreme Court as mentioned supra and in view of the man,j;rtory orovisions prescribed trnder Scction 37 of the NDpS Act , rs u,ell as the contraband i.c. I 99. l0 grams of Cocaine, se zed lrom thc petitioncr, r.r'hich is a commercial quantity, th:s Court is not inclined to granr bzril to the petitioner. I2 Accordingl-1., this Criminal petition is dismissr:t [{ou,ever, learned I Additional District and Sessions Judg: L.B. Nagar direcfcd to disposc of S.c.NDpS No.167 of 2o2sas r:;.peditiouslv as IS possible. Miscclla neou s applications, pending if an.,,. shall stand closed. To, //TRUE COPY// Sd/. L. LAKSHMI BABU ErE ISTRA FFICER I 1 . The Xlll Additional Metropolitan Magistrate at Rajendranag ar, Cyberabad ' I:;r,,, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Ranaga Rercdy District at LB 3 Therstatron House Officer, Narsingi police Station, Narsirrg i, Cyberabad 4. One CC to SRt MD FAS|UDD|N Advocate tOpUCj ' t'{:Srt# 6. Two CD Copies t..ot""'tor' Hish court ror the state ol ','eransana lo'.}11 I VM/gh , .l:r \ +.\ , '1. i, a:,li -;. ,7 ,.,.,,t, .,), 2[25 HIGH COURT DATED: 2310712025 ORDER CRLP.No.7788 ot 2025 DISMISSING THE CRIMINAL PETITION *ltnlv(