Heard Sri v. Raghunath, learned Senror representing Sri. K. Ajith Reddy

This Petition coming on for hearing'upon perusing the Memoiandum of Grounds of Criminal Petitio"n and upon hearing the arguments of Sri KADIRE AJITH REDDY ,Advocate for the Petitioner and the Additional Public Prosecutor on behalf of the ResPondent No1 ' The Court made the following: ORDER THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREENIVAS RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No. 6575 of2o25 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is hled under Sections 4gO and 4g3 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to, as 'BNSS') secking bail to the petitioner/accused No.7 in connection q,ith Crime No. I of 2O2S of Cybcrabad Narcotics Poiice Station, TG Anti Narcotics Bureau District, registered for the offences punishable uncler Sections g(c), 22(b). 22(c),27A and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and psycholropic Act, 19g5.

2. The case of the prosecution is that on O3.O4.2O25 at 09.00 hours, the Inspector of police, Cyberabad Narcotic police Station PS TG Anti-Narcotic Bureau, received information that some Nigerians, u,ho were residing at Flat No.3O1, Ay Residency, Road No.10, Happv Homes Colony, Upperpal$, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad, are indulging in illegal supply of drugs to the customers and that they along with the petitioner running Fine Multipurposc Services at Malakpet, Hyderabad are assembling at Flat No.301, AY Residency, Road No. 10, Happy Homes Colony, Upperpall-v, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad, for the settlement of their finar-rcial transacLions. The1, are handled by one Divine Ebuka Suzee @l Ebuka (llebuka @ trmmanuel (a Levet. r.r,ho is :;l 2 { presenlly at Nigeria, was earlier residing with them in Upparpally assisted by his brother Ezeonyili Franklin Uchenna @ Kelechi and getting drugs from New Delhi through Onuoha Blessing R/o Bangalore. In 2024 after the arrest of Blessing in Hyderabad, Divine trbuka Suzee fled away to Nigeria and operated this drug racket from Nigeria. Emma and Big Joe procured some Indian and Foreign bank accounts through accused No.3 and gave them to Ebuka who in turn gave them to his customers and the customers who want drugs will deposit the required money into these accounts and Ebuka gets the drug delivered to them through Emma and Big Joe, Later Emma and Big Joe will approach Mateen, who will deliver the money to Emma and Big Joe, who will in turn route this money to Nigeria through various iliegal channels. The accused are assembling at premises bearing Fiat No.3O1, AY Residency, Road No.10, Happy Homes Colony, Upperpally, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad, to plan for the delivery of drugs and finalise their financial transaction. The ofllcers alter complying with all the provisions of 1aw reached near the premises bearing Flat No.3O1, AY Residency, Road No' 10, Happy Homes Colony, Upperpally, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad at 12:OO hours and concealed presence within the vicinity of the premises. Accused Nos. I and 2 voluntarily disclosed that they are '-.:J-]& ?' 3 procures drugs indulging in selling Cocaine and MDMA to their customers Hyderabad and they are handled by Divine Ebuka Suzee, who from New Delhi and collects money from the customers in some bank accounts provided by Mateen, rvho will in turn deliver the cash to them. The accused were indulging in procuring and selling the contraban d of 52.29 gms. of MDMA and 16.45 gms of cocaine from A.1 and A3 and the sarne is recovered and concerned accused were arrested. Hence on such statement, the crime No.1 of 2025 was registered.

3. Heard Sri V. Raghunath, learned Senror representing Sri. K. Ajith Reddy, learned counsel pe titioner/ accused No.7, and Mr. Syed yasar Mamoon, learned Additional Public prosecutor, appearing for the respondent/ S tate for the Counsel,

4. Learned Senior Counsel lor the petitroner submitLed that the petitior-rer has not committecl any offence, and he rvas falsely impiicated in the present crime. Even according to lhe complaint and remand case diary, the alleged contraband u,as serzed from accused Nos.1 to 3 only, and there are no allegalions, much less specifrc aliegations, levelled against the petitioner to attracL the ingre&ents under [he provisions of the NDpS Act ard alo there is no specific overt acts against the petitioner. The only allegation \ t1 4 1evel1ed against the petitioner is that he is selling SIM cards to \i the other accused. The petitioner was arrested on 05'04 2025, and since for more than 80 days, hc has been in judicial custody'

4.1 . He further submitted that basing on the confessional statement given by the other accused only, the petitioner was implicated as an accused in the present crime He aiso submitted that in respect of accused No 12, the learned XIII Additional District and Scssions Judge, Cyberabad' Ranga Reddy District at L.B.Nagar, granted bail in Crl M P No 739 of 2025 on 22.04 .2025 and insofar as accused No 1 3 is concerned, this Court granted anticipatory bail in Crl.P No 5201 of 2O25 dated

17.04.2025 and very same allegations are levelled against the petitioner. He further submilted that the petitioner is doing a small business of selling SIM cards and eking out his livelihood' and the family members are depending upon him The petitioner does not have any criminal anteccdents, and he has not been involved in a similar offence under the NDPS Act' In the present crime, the entire investigation is completed except filing of the charge sheet. Hence, the petitioner is also entitled for grant of t I l 1 I 1 i 1 I i E I I i { i I I t 1 *t r- ia:! .)

5. Per contra, learned Aclditional pubiic prosecutor submitted that the petitioner has committed a grave offence under the provisions of the NDpS Act and the police seized contraband, namely 16.45 grams of cocaine, 52.29 grams of MDMA, rvhich is a commercial quantity. There are specific alegatrons levelled against the petitioner that accused No.1 used the lD provided by accused No.6 and collected the money illegally and accused No.g and 9 and the petitioner are SIM card vendors and they fraudulenrlv and illegally activating additional SrM cards on the names of the customers who approach them and selling the s:rme pre-activated SIM cards to the Nigerians and earning money illegally who are using them for the drug sales to escape and dragnet of the police. He further submitted that the investigation is in progrcss. Hence, at this stage, the petitioner is not cntitled for grant o1- 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, namely, 16.45 grams of cocaine, 52.29 grams of MDMA, which is a commercial quantity. The record further reveais that there are specilic allegations against the petitioner that the petrtioner is a SIM carcl-r--ndor and he fraudulently and illegalll, activating 6 additional SIM cards on the names of the customers' who approaches him, and selling the same pre-activated SIM cards to the Nigerians and earning money illegally and using it for the drug sales to escape and dragnet of the police' which attracts the ingredients under the provisions of the NDPS Act' It is also relevant to mention that accused No'S in the 7 . present crime, against whom very same allegations are levelled' has approached this Court for the grant of regular bail' and this CourL uirie Cri.P.No.6669 of 2025 ' dismissed said petition on 16.06.2025. tsven according to the learned Additionai Public Prosecutor, the investigation is in progress At this stage' it is pertinent to note Section 37 of the NDPS Act' which reads as under: (1) (a) (b) Offences to be cognizable and non-barlable - Notwithstanding any'thing contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 12 of 1974)'-- every offence punishable under this Acl shall be cogrrizable; no person accused of al offence punishable for l[offences under section 19 or section 24 or section 27A and also for offences involving commercial quantityl sha11 be released on bail or on his own bond unless-- __- ,_,-r-.r.lfu{=, ...-'; -"-....:=F=i 7 such release, and (1) the public prosecutor has been given alr opportunity to oppose the aPPlication for (ii) where the public prosecu tor opposes the application, ttre court is satisfied that there are .reasor_rable grounds for believing that he is not guilty ofsuch olfencc and that he is not lil<ely to commit any oflence while on bail. (2) The limitations on granting of bail specified in clause (b) of sub_section (1) are in addilion to the limitations under the Code of Criminal procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) or any other law for the time being in force on granting of barl.,,

8. In vrew thereof, Section 37 of the NDpS Act mandates that offences rnvolving commerciai quantities be non-bailable, rcquiring reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and unlikel,v to commit further offences while on bail.

9. Insofar as the contention raised by the learned Senior Counsel th:rt learned XIII Additional District and Sessions Judge, Cyberabad, Ranga Reddy District at L.B.Nagar, granted bail in favour ofaccused No.l2, hence, the petitioner is entitled for grant of bail is concerned, the learned Session Judge granted bail on the grouncl that accused No.12 is having valirl license issued by i 8 Foreign Exchange Department under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 on 26 -06.2024 and the same was valid up to 30.O6.2025. Whereas, in the case on hand, there are specihc allegations are levelled against thc petitioner and accused Nos.8 and 9 that they fraudulentlv and i11egal1y activating additional SIM cards on the names of the cuslomers, who approaches them, and selling the same pre-activated SIM carcls to the Nigerians and earning money illegally and using it for the drug sales to escape and dragnet of thc police, which attracts the ingredients under the provisions of Lhe NDPS Act' Since the allegations are levelled against the petitioner are serious in nature, this Court is not satishcd that the conditions for granting baii under Section 37 are met, especially whcn the investigation is pending. Therefore, the criminal petition lacks merit and the same is liable to be dismissed' 10 Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is dismissed Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand ciosed. ,/TRUE COPY// Sd- S, MALLIKARJUNA RAO TANT REGISTRAR SECTION OFFICER To, 1 2 :xfi?Ii:'s,i,*H'iifl"il:?:,",,ixTll3?J:':?L:s]iuy"T#"1':'fi3'o"i'l'lTo""''"Jo"',oon" G' Anti Narcotic The Station House Officer'Police Station Cyberabad 'Narcotic'T Bureau(TGANB) .--,*.t: ---F?- I i I

3. One CC to SRt. KADTRE AJTTH REDDY Advocate tOpUCl 4. Two CC to SRt pUBLtC PROSECUTOR Advocate [OUT] 5. Two CD Copies I AG/GH \c-' HIGH COURT DATED:25106t2025 ( \. ORDER GRLP.No.G575 of 2O2S ,,. virt' 18 sEP 2U6 {,tt- ,: t, ,r,l' I ; I I I I I I ; I I CRLP IS DISMISSEI) (tsPTeA -k*