The High Court · 2025

Petition under Section 480 & 483 of Cr.P.C., praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the Petitioner/Accused No.2, on bail in Crime No.4B1 of 2024, dated 28.08.2024, on the file of the lVlangalhat Police Station, Hyderabad. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri UMESH SINGH, Advocate for the Petitioner and the Public Prosecutor (TG) on behalf of the Respondent The Court made the following: ORDER 7 THE HONOURABLE SMT JUSTICE K. SUJANA CRIMINAL PETITION No.15951 of 2o24 ORDER: The present Crimin:rl Petition is filed praying this Court to enlarge the petitioner ri'ho is arrnved as accused No'2 in Crime No.481 of 2024 bef<rre ttrc Mangalhat Police Station' Hyderabad' on bail.

2. The brie f facts oI the case are that on 28 'O8 '2024 ' bt P'S' approximatelv 132 !. hours' thn Srlb-[nsPector of Mangalhat. HytlerabaC. along u'ith staff' apprehended A1 and A3 and seizccl '2 I .492 Kgs of Gartja from Ratlii Bangalow' Mangalhat, I'l-t'dr-'rab:rcl , anci i-tpor' r'ecording lheil con[ession' .Police' theinvolvemerrtclfPctitioncr/A2anrlA6cametolight,leading in Crime: No'481 /'2O24 urder th.e to the registra.tion r:f NDPS Act, 1985, arlcl the sttbsequent arrest of Petitioner/A2 on 1g.11.2024. Aggrit:r'cd lhercbv' this criminai petition is filed' ':tse

3.HeardSriUmestrSirlr:h.learnt:clcoultseiappearingforthe petitioner as u'ell as Sri Sled Yasar Matnortn' lcarned Additional Public Prosectttor lor resDrriiilcrrt - State' 2 5KS,j Crl.P.No.15951ol2024

4. Lcarne d counsel for the pe titioner submitted that the is innocent and has been falselY petitioncr/ Accuscd No. 2 and contended that the aliegations implicated in the case, leveled blr the prosecutiotl against the petitioner are based on the conlcssion o[ co-erccused, and that the same cannot be aclmissible in evidence as per the judgment rendered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Tofan Singh vs' State of Tamil NadulatrrdNikhilChan&aMondalvs.stateofslestBengal2. Hclamt:nteclthzitthereisnt,primafaciecaseagainstthe petitioncr, and that the FIR does not reveal any offences against him. Hc zrsscrtcd that the petitioner is a law-abiding citizen' rvilling to co()perirte with the investigating agency' and there is no apprchcnsion of him absconding, tampering with evidence' or influt--ncitrg u'itncsses. Therefore, he prayed the Court to grant bail to the petitir'rner by allow'ing this criminal petition'

5. On thi' othcr hand, learned Additional Public Prosecutor opposed thc subrnissions made by the learned counsel for the pctitioner stating that the allegations leveled against the potitioner ari: scrious in nature, and that he was implicated in l-hc crime case based on the confession of co-accused persons 'zozt 1a1 scc t ) 2023 Livetaw {scl 171 Ir I I 3 5(5,J arl.P.No.15951 oI2024 which related to his involvement in the contraband seized i'e'' of 21.492 Kgs of Ganja. Therefore, he averred that at this stage' the question of granting of bail to the petitioner does not arise' Therefore, he prayed the Court to dismiss the criminal petition'

6. Having regard to the rival submissions made and on going through the material placed on record' it is noted that the limited grievance of learned counsel for thc petitioner is that the petitioner was falsely implicated in the case and that he is no way concerned with the alleged offence' u'hcreas' it is the specific stand of learncd Additional Public Prosecutor that petitioner was impli<:ated in the crimc based on the confession of co-accuscd which related to his involvement in the seized contraband of 21 .492 Kgs Ganja'

7. At this stage, it is imperativc to noto that the contraband seized from the petilioner is a commercial quantity' That being so, it is relevant to extract Section 37 of the NDPS Act' u'hich reads as under: "37. Offences to te cognizable and non-bailabte' -- (1) Notwithstanding an1'thing contained in the Code of Criminal Procetlurc, 1973 12 of 1974),--(a) every offence punishable ttnder this Act shail be cognizatrle; J 4 5l(s,j Crl.P.No.15951 of 2024 (bi no person accused of an offence punishable for I [offences ttnder secaion 19 or section 24 or section 27A and :rlso for offences involving commercial quantityl shall bc rtleased on bail or on his own bond uirlcss.- {i) tlr(' Pu}rlic Prosecutor has been given an opportunrtv to oppose the application for such release, ;rnrl (iil r'. i,'rr i'tll,,li(: Prosecutor opPoses the apirlir':rtirrn. thc c(rurt is satislte<'l that tller(: are rcastrrr:rbic qroiln(ls lirr lrlievirrg that he is not guilty ol i,rr !- .li, r( a r;rri llr:rt lte is ltot likell to cllornit an-v offuncl ri lr jir' ,,it !-lrtl. {li ilrl' llrir,l.iti.;rrs on g,rantitrg of bail spccifie<i in cl;irrr, ;1r, 'r! s'.tir sectiotr {11 are in addition to thc i i r r r i t i r r i . , : : : , r ri:<li r 1l;r' Ootlc of Crirninal Proce<lure, l(i;.1 ir.ri i'r7jl ,,i :in\ other i:rB for lhc time being in lo.r'('()!1 :lI?l Il t inq ()l bail.'

8. In vic..t ihercof, il rs clear that Section 37 of the NDPS Act mandatcs that oflcnccs itrvolving commercial quantities be non- bailable, requirins reasonable gicrr-tnds to believe the accused is not guilty and uniikch'tc' commit further offences while on bail' (liven thc scrious sr:t ol allegations against the petitioner, this 5 sxs,l Crl.P.No.15951 of 2024 Court is not satisfied that conditions for granting bail under Section 37 are met. Further, as a mattcr of tact, petitioner is involved in fivc other criminal cases of similar nature The refore' this Court is of the opinion that this criminal pctition lacks merit and the same is tiable to be dismissed' !) Accordirrgly, this Criminal Petition is disnrisscd Miscellaneous applications, il an-v pending' shall stand closed To, /,TRUE GOPY// Sd/. P. PADMANABHA REDDY ASSISTANT REGISTRAR .i '\/ I SECTION OFFICER '1 . The Court of I Additional Sessions Judge'Hyderabad' 2. The Court of XVI Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate at Hyderabad' 3. Two CCs to the Public Prosecutor High Court for the State of Telangana' at Hyderabad [OUT]

4.TheStationHouseofficer,MangalhatPoliceStation'Hyderabad 5. One CC to SRl. UMESH SINGH' Advocate [OPUCI 6. Two CD CoPies pcsd/gh \qr , I HIGH COURT DATED:0610112025 R Tt o :;r (' ,:i 2 0 FEB'IW Ot.. n1rCr t.-!) \. " .a/ a/ ) L ,, + ORDER CRLP.No.15951 of 2024 DISMISSING THE CRIMINAL PETITION .9*qnlb w