The High Court · 2025

stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the petitioner/A-10 on anticipatory bail in the event of anest in connection with COR No.42 of 2024 on the file of the Prohibition & Excise Police Station, Narayanaguda, Hyderabad. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the f\4emorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri. CH. RAVINDER, Advocate for the Petitioner and the Sri. Sayed Yasar Mamoon, Additional Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent. The Court made the following ORDER: ' -a-._:-::F-;:----.4 THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE K. SUJ' NA CRIMINAL PETITION No.9526 of 2025 ORDER: This Cnminal Petition is filed under Scc t ir ' n 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for sl.r 'rt '!INSS') for grant of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner, '*'ho is Lrraved as accused No. iO in Crime No.42 of 2024 of Prohi ntion and Excise Police Station, Narayanaguda, Hyderabad

2. The brief facts of the case are that on 17.1,il'-)t)21' .upon receiving credible information regarding iliegal pos ; 'ssion and transportation of dry ganja, the Prohibition rr rd Excise lnspector, aiong u'ith the STF C-Team, Hyderabad, :on<lucted a raid ne ar Sai Baba Temple lane, Chaderghat I i1'derabad During the raid, accused A- 1 to A 4 were found it' losscssion of 2O.5 kgs of dry ganja. Upon enquiry, they dir;r'losed that the contraband q,as procured from A-5 and a Chilri in Conflict u,irh Lalr, (CICL), who were also present at the sce l.:. Furlher investigation revealed that A 5 and the CICL trar I portcd the ganja on the instructions of A-7 and A-8 from t rc Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border to Hyderabad. A-l to A-4 rlso stated 2 sKs,.r Crl.P.I{o-9526 of 2O2S that they rvere directed by A-9 and A-1O to bring the ganja, which was intende d to bc delivcrccl to A- 1 1 to A- 13 for local salc. Following the mandatory lcgal procedures, thc officials seized the dry ganja, two two-u,heelers, and five mobile phones under a panchanama dated 17.12.2024. A case was registcred in Crime No. 42 of 2024 under Section 8(c) r/w 2O(b)(ii)(C) oi the NDPS Act, 1985, and A- 1 to A 5 were arrested and produced belorc lhc concerned court, where they were remanded to judicial custody on the same day..

3. Heard Sri Ch. Ravinder, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner as well as Sri Syed Yasar Mamoon, learned Additional Public Proscculor appearing on behalf of the respondent - State.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is innocent and falsely implicated in the case and that the Police relied on a coerced conlcssional statement from a co-accused. He further submitted that the allegations in the FIR do not constitute a pima facie offence against the petitioner and that the confession of the co-accused is inadmissible as evidence. Therefore, he prayed the Court to 3 SKS'J CtI. ).'Io.9526 of 2025 grirnt pre-arrest baii ro the petrtioner by allorving t ris c rirnintrl 1>t't i tion.

5. On the other hand. learncd Additional Pub] r Prosecutor oPposed the submissions maclc by the learned col nsel lor lhe pclLtioner stating that the petitioner is drug pedd ( r. Further, thcrc are 18 cases pending against the petitione r. [{c furthcr submitted that the investig:rtion is in progres:; and if the prl itiorlcr is released on bail, at this stage, he 1 1ay ramper u rth the evidence and may threaten the witnesse; Hcnce, hc praved the Court to dismiss the criminal petition.

6. Ilaving regard to thc rival submissions nrirde and on going through the material placed on record, it is noted that the limited grievance of learned counsel for the 1:etitroner is t hat the petitioner was falsely implicated in tht, case solely birsing orr the confession made by co-accusec in u,hose possession contraband q,as seized and that pet l.oner is no \\ra) conccrned u'ith the offence punishable uncl( r Sect ions 8 (c) read u'ith 2o(b)(ii)(B) of NDPS Act, as no cont aband was scized from their possession, whereas, it is the s c rtcihc stand ol- learned Additional Public Prosecutor that ::titioner is l. I 1 ;- -... 'i i :-': 4 SKS,J crr.P.Ito-9526 of 2()25 actively involved with other accused in his iilegal activities and there are 18 cases pending against the petitioner.

7. At this stage, it is pertinent to observe that the Courts exercisc caution whilc dealing with anticipatory bail petitions in NDPS cases due to the serious nature of these offences. Granting anticipatory bail in regular manner may hamper the invcstigation, allow the accused to abscond, and undermine public interest in preventing and controlling these offences.

8. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has consistently held that anticipatory bail should not be granted in NDPS cases as a matter of routine, as the same may hamper the investigation and enable the accused to destroy evidence. Further, in the case ol Anarul SK v. State of West Bengal I the Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that gralt of anticipatory bail in cases jnvolving NDPS is a very serious issue.

9. In light of the above drscussion, this Court is of the opinion that the grant of pre-arrest bail at a stage when the rnvestigation is still in progress, may impede the investigative process and potentially prejudice the case of the prosecution. as such, there are no merits in this criminal petition to grant 1 Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C(1.)No.72621/2024 dated 19.09.2024 5 SKS,J Crl.P. { i.9526 of2025 pre arrest bail io the petitioner and the same is Iable to be drsrnissed

10. Accord ingly, this Criminal Petition is dismiss r I Miscellancous applications, if any pending, rrhalJ stand closed I ]I 'l ;'rr'#iE3l!?A"oH 6 //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER To, 1 2 J .gs at HYderabad [OUT]

4. Two CD CoPtes TTS/PSL :1$jff,5it[*Jn{;:ttlrilirT : ;"'* :::';"" : I : !j i I I I ! I I I I I t I I I I l ; I I I I I l. l. I I I : { I I I i + I i I i I i i ! i t I .. 1 li.-....u, i r,:'-- t-'::' ri.+iii,* li.!: r' HIGH COURT DATED: 2510812025 ORDER CRLP-No.9526 of 2025 i I I / t ( =-- c\ il0t,& 2 0 ( ):. * a J 1,,o ..,'Y CRIMINAL PETITION IS DISMISSED rlu lgr