The High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK BLAPL No.10435 of 2024 Rohan Khan @ Abdul Nadeem @ Sk. Nadeem …. Petitioner(s) Mr. D. P. Mishra, Advocate -versus- State of Odisha …. Opposite Party(s) Mr. U. R. Jena, AGA BLAPL No. 10460 of 2024 Rohit Kumar Agrawal …. Petitioner(s) Mr. S. K. Sahu, Advocate State of Odisha -versus- …. Opposite Party(s)
Legal Reasoning
Mr. U. R. Jena, AGA BLAPL No. 10487 of 2024 (1) Rajesh Nag (2) Kanha Majhi (3) Rahul Nag State of Odisha …. Petitioner(s) Mr. B. K. Ragada, Advocate -versus- …. Opposite Party(s) Mr. U. R. Jena, AGA BLAPL No. 10606 of 2024 Rabi Das …. Mr. B. K. Ragada, Advocate Petitioner(s) Page 1 of 8 State of Odisha Sonu Tandi State of Odisha -versus- …. Opposite Party(s) Mr. U. R. Jena, AGA BLAPL No. 11722 of 2024 …. Petitioner(s) Mr. R. K. Das, Advocate -versus- …. Opposite Party(s) Mr. U. R. Jena, AGA BLAPL No. 10306 of 2024 (1) Pinky Meher @ Sukantala (2) Subhadra Behera …. Petitioner(s) Mr. D. P. Mishra, Advocate State of Odisha -versus- …. Opposite Party(s) Mr. U. R. Jena, AGA CORAM: JUSTICE SIBO SANKAR MISHRA Order No.
Decision
ORDER 18.12.2024 02. 1. All the six bail applications proposed to be disposed of by this common order are arising out of the same F.I.R. Page 2 of 8 2. All the petitioners are accused in connection with Sambalpur Town P.S. Case No.118 of 2024 corresponding to T.R. Case No.44 of 2024 for the alleged commission of the offences under Sections 21(C)/29 of the N.D.P.S. Act pending in the Court of the learned Sessions Judge-cum-Judge (Special Court), Samblapur. 3. The allegation against the petitioners in the F.I.R. is that on 25.03.2024 at about 4.15 P.M., the informant being the S.I. of the Sambalpur Town P.S. alleging therein that as per the direction of the I.I.C., Town P.S., at about 10. 00 P.M. while he along with other police staffs performing patrolling duty, at 11.00 A.M., he received information from a reliable source regarding transportation of huge quantity of contraband cough syrup bottles in a truck having Registration No.WB-23E-5185 from West Bengal to Sambalpur at Sahoo Colony, Taxi stand being unloaded from said truck to two four wheelers and are going to be shifted to store houses of drug peddlers and local drug mafias of Sambalpur SMC area. The drug was supposed to be sold in the market on the occasion of coming festivals of Holi. The accused persons have transported such huge quantities of contraband cough syrup and distributing the contraband cough syrup to their syndicate members. After getting the information, the informant immediately called his Page 3 of 8 superior officer over phone. Thereafter, the police personal proceeded to the spot by arranging two independent witnesses on the way. At spot, they found that one truck bearing Registration No.WB-23E-5185, one Hyundai Verna Car bearing Registration No.OD-15-J-2005 and one Maruti Car bearing Registration No.OR- 14-4012, one Hero Passion Pro M/C bearing Registration No.OD- 15-P-1117 were parked by the side of the road at Taxi Stand, Sahu Colony and some suspected persons were engaged in loading uploading of some sealed packets suspected of having contraband articles like Cough Syrup in their vehicles for transportation and distribution in their respective areas. It is alleged that seeing the police party, they tried to escape from the spot but the police could able to detained seven persons namely Pinky Meher @ Sankutala, Ashok Patra, Birendra Kumar Sahoo, Sibanarayan Dandasena, Satyam Naik, Randhir Kumar Tiwari and Rohit Kumar Agrawal along with three vehicles loaded with sealed jerry packets suspected to be contraband cough syrup inside and one motorcycle which was parked there. However, some persons managed to escape from the spot. On being asked, they all failed to give any satisfactory answer and also failed to produce any authentic documents regarding possession and transportation of the same. However, they orally disclosed that the packets contain WINCEREX Cough Syrup Page 4 of 8 bottles. On verification, the police found 23 numbers of gunny packets inside the betel shop and 14 numbers of sealed jerry packets containing WINCEREX cough syrup containing 240 bottles each. In toto, they recovered 5520 bottles of WINCEREX cough syrup which contains codeine phosphate of 1kg 104 grams. During the period of interrogation, the detained persons disclosed the name of other accused persons, who managed to flee away from the spot. The police also seized the Truck, Hyundai Verna Car, Maruti Suzuki Car, Hero Passion Pro Motorcycle and some mobile phones from the possession of the accused persons. Hence, the F.I.R. 4. After investigation, charge-sheet has been filed in the present case on 20.09.2024 against the petitioners keeping the investigation open under Section 173(8) of Cr.P.C. 5. The petitioners had approached the learned Sessions Judge-cum-Judge (Special Court), Sambalpur praying for grant of bail. The learned Court below vide its orders dated 30.09.2024 & 04.10.2024 in T.R. Case No.44 of 2024 has rejected the bail applications of the petitioners respectively. Being aggrieved, the petitioners have filed the present petition under Section 439 Cr.P.C. praying for enlargement on bail. 6. During interrogation, Pinky Meher disclosed that their associates Sonu Tandi, Manju Tandi, Akash Gupta, Somnath Page 5 of 8 Behera, Manahari Pal, Rajesh Nag, Prahallad Behera, Rabi Das,Subjadra Behera, Manju Das, Basanti Bag, Ajay Suna, Kamesh Saha, Goury Saha, Kusala Mallick, Papu Behera, Rahul Nag, Kanha Majhi and Sone Deep were also present at the spot and they escaped seeing the police team. One Rohan Khan of Dalei Pada is their associate and he has paid advance money to her to receive contraband cough syrup. 7. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners were implicated in this case on the basis of the confessional statement of the co-accused namely Pinky Meher, who was arrested from the spot. 8. I have perused the charge-sheet and documents form part of the charge-sheet. It appears that the accused namely Pinky Meher @ Sukantala with other accused were apprehended from the spot and the contraband cough syrup were recovered from their conscious possession. Pinky Meher has also disclosed that it is Rohan Khan of Dalei Pada and his associates are the kingpin, those who have paid the advance money for procuring the cough syrup. 9. In the facts scenario of the present case and on the basis of the evidence on record, I am of the view that the applicant namely Pinky Meher @ Sukantala and Rohit Kumar Agrawal, those who are apprehended from the spot and the objectionable syrup bottle Page 6 of 8 were recovered from their possession are not entitled to bail. Equally, the accused namely Rohan Khan @ Abdul Nadeem @ Sk. Nadeem, who is stated to be the kingpin and was procuring the contraband articles by paying advance is also not entitled to bail at this stage, particularly, because the further investigation of the present case is still kept upon under Section 173(8) Cr.P.C. Therefore, the bail pleas of the Rohan Khan @ Abdul Nadeem @ Sk. Nadeem in BLAPL No.10435 of 2024, Pinky Meher @ Sukantala in BLAPL No.10306 of 2024 and Rohit Kumar Agrawal in BLAPL No.10460 of 2024 are turned down. Hence, the same are rejected. 10. In so far the bail applications of the co-accused namely Subhadra Behera in BLAPL No.10306 of 2024, Rajesh Nag and others in BLAPL No.10487 of 2024, Rabi Das in BLAPL No.10606 of 2024, Sonu Tandi in BLAPL No.11722 of 2024 are concerned, I am inclined to admit them on bail. Hence, the petitioners be released on bail by the learned Court in seisin over the matter in the aforesaid case on such terms and conditions as it would deem just and proper, subject to the following additional conditions:- (i) The petitioners shall appear before the Court below on each date of hearing without fail; and Page 7 of 8 (ii) They shall not tamper with the evidence in any manner whatsoever. (iii) They shall not involve in any similar type of offence. Violation of any of the conditions shall entail consideration for cancellation of the bail granted to the petitioners. In the event, any of the bail conditions are violated by the petitioners, the prosecution is given liberty to move appropriate application before the Court below for recalling the concession of bail. If such application is moved, the trial Court should decide the application on its own merit. 11. The BLAPL is accordingly disposed of. (S.S. Mishra) Judge Swarna Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: SWARNAPRAVA DASH Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa Date: 24-Dec-2024 13:11:14 Page 8 of 8