High Court · 2025

Petition under Section 482 of BNSS, praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of criminal peiition, the High court may be pleased to consider the case of the petitioner and enlarge the petitionei on anticipatory bail to petitioner/Accused No.27 in crime no. 259 of 2024, of ps Gachibowli pending on the file of l.Addl. District and sessions Judge cum Designated court for the trial of offences under NDps Act, Ranga Reody-District, at L B.Nagar. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of criminal Petition and upon hearing lhe arguments of sri DUWURT sURYA NARAYANA, Advocate for the petitioner and the Asst. public prosecutor (TG) on behalf of the Sole Respondent. The Court made the following: ORDER THE HON,BLE SMT. WSTICE K. SUJAITA CRIMINAL PE"TITION TIO. ts744.oF 2ol24 ORDER This criminal petition is frled by the petittoner I 4.27 seeking anticipatory bail in connection with Cr.No.259 of 2024 of Gachibowli Police Station, Cyberabad. The offences alleged against the petitioner are under Sections 8 (c) r/w.Section 21 (b\, 29, 25 and 27 (al of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

2. The case o[ the prosecution is that on 25.02.2024, at 12:10 am, thc police received credible information about drug use at Radison Hotel, Gachibowli. They investigated room Nos' 12OO arrd 1204, linding three empty plastic covers and one white paper roll, u.hich were seized under cover of panchalama' The receptionist stated that Gajjala Vivekanand, the son of owner of the hotel, had used the rooms for a partv. The-teafter, the police proceeded to the house of Gajjala Vivekanand along with mediators and clues team and he confessed to have consumed cocaine along with others, including Abbas (A-2), who allegedly supplied the drugs. It is further stated that 2 -\ investigation led to the arrest of multiple individuals, including Syed Abbas Ali Jeffery (A-2), Gaddala Praveen (A-11), Mirza Waheed Baig (A-12), Syed Abdul Rehman (A-13), and Milansi Narendrasi Vanath (A-53). The police seized 3.58 grams of cocaine and 11 grams of MDMA powder. The petition er, Mazhar (A-27) Shaik, was implicated in the case based on the confessions of the other accused. Basing on the said complaint police registered the case against the petitioner.

3. Heard Sri D.Surya Narayana, learned counsel for the petiLioner and learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondent.

4. The contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is that no contraband was seized from the petitioner herein and no connection to the case beyond an alleged confession by Accused No. 13. The search and seizure were conducted illegally, without following mandatory provisions, and the seized material was not sealed on the spot. There was also delay in drawing and sending samples to the forensic lab, violating established procedures. The petitioner is a law-abiding citizct with three young children and having health issues, hence, requests anticipatory bail, 3 willing to provide sureties and abide by any conditions imposed by this Court.

5. On the other hand, learned Additional public prosecutor opposed the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner stating that the allegations leveled against the petitioner are of serious nature which raises concern over his involvement and working hand in hand with the other accused in whose possession contraband was seized. Therefore, prayed the Court to dismiss the criminal petition. 6 Having regard to the rival submissions made arrd on going through the material placed on record, it is noted that the limited grievance of learned counsel for the petitioner is ttrat the petitioner was falsely implicated in the case solely on the basis of confession made by the other accused in whose possession contraband was seLed and that petitioner is no way concerned with the offence punishable under Sections g(c) read with 2f (b), 25,27 (al and 29 of NDpS Act, whereas, 1t is the specihc stand of learned Additional public prosecutor that petitioner is actively involved in this case, u,orking hand in hand with other accused persons. The investigation in the case is not yet completed. 4

7. At this stzge, it is pertinent to observe that the Courts exercise caution while 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 investigation, 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 investigaiion and enable the accused to destroy evidence. Further, in the case of Anarul SK v. State of West Benqalr the Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that grant of anticipatory bail in cases involving NDPS is a very serious issue.

9. In light of the above discussion, this Court is of the opinion that the grant of pre-arrest bail at a stage when the investigation is still in progress, may impede the investigative process and potentially prejudice the case of the prosecution, as such, there are no meri[s in this criminal petition to grant pre- I Petition for Special teave to Appeal (Crl.lNo.1262112024 dated 19.Og.2024 5 arrest bail to the petitioner and the same is liable to be dismissed

10. Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is dismissed Miscellaneous applications, if any pending, shall stand closed. i To,

1. The X Addl Cyberabad //TRUE COPY// SD/- N. SRIHARI ASSISTANT REGISTRAR L- OFFICER SECTIOIT Ivletropolitan Magistrate Kukatpally at prashanth Nagar 2 The Station House Officer, Gachibowli police Station Cyberabad. 3. One CC to SRt. DUWURT SURYA NARAYANA, Advocate tOpUCl 4 Two cc to PUBLTG pRoSECUToR (TG) Advocate Hrgh court for the state of Telangana [OUT] 5. Two CD Copies V*' HIGH COURT DATED: 03/01 12025 r$ E s rA rti (,. ( q :) o 21ili 2:ti o ) '. ORDER CRLP.No.15744 of 2024 ---::ij.-:: THE CRIMTNAL PETITION IS DISMISSED 8rd'D Hvpr-