PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH 223+227 CRM-M- 17244-2026 BHARAT SINGH @ BHARAT v. STATE OF PUNJAB

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY VASHISTH Present: Mr. Aditya Anand, Advocate, for the petitioners (in all the three cases). Mr. Vinay Malhotra, DAG, Punjab. -.- LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh CRM-M-17244-2026 CRM-M-17312-2026 CRM-M-22131-2026 2 SANJAY VASHISTH , J. (Oral)

By way of this common order all the aforementioned petitions are being disposed of as they arise out of one common FIR.

Present petitions have been filed by the petitioners, seeking grant of regular bail, in case, FIR No.03, dated 03.01.2025, under Sections 18(b), 18(c), 20, 21(b), 21(c), 22(c), 28, 29 and 30 of NDPS Act and sections 42 and 52-A of Prisons Act, 1894, registered at Police Station Goindwal Sahib, District Tarn Taran.

On the very outset, learned counsel for the petitioner refers to the common order dated 23.03.2026 (Annexure P-3) passed by this Court in CRM-M-55922-2025 and other connected cases, whereby similarly situated co-accused, namely Angrej Singh @ Raja, Deepak Kumar @ Deepa @ Kochar @ Deepak Kumar Kochar, Ranjodh Singh @ Babblu, Ajay Singh, Chamkaur Singh @ Sunny @ Chamkor Singh, and Lovepreet Singh @ Love, were granted the concession of regular bail, by this Court, and facts of the case were extracted from the status report dated 14.03.2026 (filed therein), which, for ready reference, reads as under:- “ A) Brief Facts of case:- •That on 03.01.2025, between 12:30 PM to 01:40 PM, checking in Barrack No.5 of Ward No.6, was conducted on the basis of secret information, which led to recovery of 12 touch screen mobile phones, 1 keypad mobile phone and other prohibited/contraband items by breaking the flood of the pit made inside the barrack for inmates i.e. 2 VIVO mobile phones, without SIM, one Oppo Mobile phone having one Airtel Sim LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh CRM-M-17244-2026 CRM-M-17312-2026 CRM-M-22131-2026 3 No.0923, ID A291000921 1291445550, one VIVO mobile phone having one Airtel Sim ID 899100921318695505 and one JIO Sim ID 8991867040036507254, two Redmi mobile phones without Sim, one Oppo mobile phone without SIM, one Realme mobile phone having one Airtel SIM ID 8991000921129118336 U, one Redmi mobile phone having one Airtel SIM 8991000922507132873 U, one MOTOROLA keypad mobile phone, three mobile chargers, 6 air pods, one data cable, 16 earphones, 9 yellow tapes and 2 white tapes wrapped packets of substance containing 5150 intoxicant tablets, one packet wrapped in white tape containing sulphate like narcotic substance, weighing 218 grams, two packets wrapped in yellow envelopes containing opium, weighing 102 grams including envelope, 12 yellow and 8 white wrapped packets containing substance like heroin, weighing 1255 grams including envelope and in this regard, the present case FIR No.03 dated 01.01.2025, under section 18(b)/20/21-C/22-C of the NDPS Act & 42/52-A of the Prison Act has been registered at Police Station Goindwal Sahib, District Tarn Taran against 1 unknown person. On dated

09.01.2025, SI Balwinder Singh nominated (i) Amolak Singh @Anmol (ii) Angrej Singh @ Raja (iii Chamkaur Singh @Soni (iv) Deepak Kumar @ Deepa @ Kochar and (v) Palwinder Singh Pinder as accused in the present FIR. Thereafter, the investigation of the present case was transferred from SSP Tarn Taran to the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) vide Director, BOL, Punjab office order No. 106-111/Crime/Inv-5 dated 08.01.2025. Subsequently, vide order No. 1704-09/AC-5 dated 28.01.2025, the Special Director General of Police, Special Task Force, Punjab, transferred the investigation to ANTF, Border Range, Amritsar, and constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the present case. In pursuance thereof, the NOTANTF, Border Range, Amritsar received the LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh CRM-M-17244-2026 CRM-M-17312-2026 CRM-M-22131-2026 4 case file on 22.04.2025, whereafter the investigation was taken over and conducted by the SIT. B)Nomination of accused:- That during the course of investigation on 09.01.2025, the Investigating 68Officer sought the list of the inmates of Barrack No.5 of Ward No.06 of Central Jail, Sri Goindwal Sahib and total 36 inmates were found to be lodged in Barrack No.5 and from the said 36 inmates, Several cases commercial cases under the provisions of NDPS Act have been registered against the accused Chamkaur Singh @ Sunny Ipetitioner in CRM-M-59927-20251, Amolak Singh alias Anmol, Angrej Singh alias Raja [petitioner in CRM-M-55922-2025), Deepak Kumar @ Deepa Ipetitioner in CRM-M-59687-2025| and Palwinder Singh alias Bhinder and on the basis of which aforesaid accused have been nominated in the present FIR and thereafter 31 other co-accused have been nominated in the present case vide DDR No.33 dated 04.07.2025, incorporated in Roznamcha at Police Station Goindwal Sahib, District Tarn Taran.

C) Apprehension: • That during the course of investigation, the arrest of accused Chamkaur Singh Sunny [petitioner in CRM-M-59927-2025], Amolak Singh alias Anmol, Deepak Kumar @ Deepa[petitioner in CRM-M-59687-2025], Angrej Singh alias Raja petitioner in CRM-M-55922-2025] and Palwinder Singh alias Bhinder has been made in the present case on 11.01.2025 by investigating officer from P.S. Goindwal Sahib, Distt. Tarn Taran, after obtaining their production warrants from the learned Court of Illaqa Magistrate, Khadur Sahib, District Tarn Taran. Thereafter the arrest of accused Ranjodh Singh @ Bablu [petitioner in CRM-M-63877-2025], Ajay S/o Harbans Singh [petitioner in CRM-M-67405-2025], Ajay S/o Ranjit Singh, Ajay s/o Mukhtar Singh, Bharat Singh S/o Makhan Singh has been made in the present case on 11.08.2025 by ANTE, Boder Range, Amita after obtaining their production warrants. LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh CRM-M-17244-2026 CRM-M-17312-2026 CRM-M-22131-2026 5 D) Search and Seizure:- • That on 03.01.2025, during the checking of Barrack No.05 of Ward No.6 of the jail, the jail authority broke the pit made for the prisoners to rest in the barrack and 13 mobile charges, 06 Airpods, 1 data cable, 16 ear phones, 515 white colored Intoxicant Tablets, 218 grams of Sulfa like Intoxicant Powder, 98 grams of opium and 1170 grams of heroin were recovered from the pit made in the Barrack.

The recovery effected in the present case is a joint recovery, as the aforesaid articles were recovered from a common concealed pit inside the barrack where multiple inmates, including the petitioners and other co-accused, were lodged together. No recovery has been effected from the conscious possession of any individual accused, and the recovery pertains to the common area accessible to all inmates lodged in the said barrack. E) Verification of Recovered Mobile Phones:- • That the recovered 13 mobile phones were sent to FSL to get the detailed record regarding aforesaid mobile phones vide letter no. 1875/ Reader dated 12.11.2025. Subsequently, a reminder letter was also sent by the office of anti Narcotics Task Force, Border Range, Amritsar to State Cyber Crime, SAS Nagar regarding extraction of data from the aforesaid recovered 13 mobile phones vide letter no.2188/ Reader dated

30.12.2025. However, theFSL report is still awaited.”

As a primary argument, it is submitted that a total of 36 jail inmates, all of whom were confined in Barrack No. 5 of the jail, have been made accused in the present case. One of them, namely Amolak Singh @ Anmol, has been granted the concession of regular bail, vide order dated 31.10.2025 passed in CRM-M-50011-2025, and up till that LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh CRM-M-17244-2026 CRM-M-17312-2026 CRM-M-22131-2026 6 time, he had remained in custody for a period of about 8 months and 15 days.

Learned counsel for the petitioner(s) submits that from co- accused Amolak Singh @ Anmol, nothing specific was recovered except for the allegations, according to which a huge quantity (5,150) of intoxicating tablets, 98 grams of opium, and 1,170 grams of heroin, along with a mobile phone, etc., were recovered. It is further submitted that no separate recovery has been effected from any of the petitioners herein.

Apart from this, it is also pointed out that, all the recovered articles are now in the possession of the Investigating Agency, and none of the petitioners herein is required for any specific purpose to join any further proceedings pertaining to the investigation. Moreover, as per the investigation brought on record till date, almost all the petitioners/nominated accused allegedly used certain mobile numbers ([REDACTED]) and made unauthorized calls to their respective family members within the jail premises. However, no material has surfaced during the investigation to show that the accused persons involved in the present case made any phone call to any person already involved in drug smuggling or to any external drug syndicate.

Investigation qua all the petitioners herein, has already been completed, and the final report under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C. has also been submitted.

On the other hand, in response to the arguments addressed by learned counsel for the petitioners, learned State counsel, produces the LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh CRM-M-17244-2026 CRM-M-17312-2026 CRM-M-22131-2026 7 custody certificates dated 04.05.2026 of all the three petitioners in the Court today, which are taken on record. Office to tag the same at appropriate place. A copy thereof has been handed over to the counsel for the petitioners. As per the custody certificate of petitioner Bharat Singh (in CRM-M-17244-2026), in the present case, he has already undergone one month and one day period inside jail and he is stated to be convicted in two other cases. As per the custody certificate of petitioner Gurjant Singh @ Janta (in CRM-M-17312-2026), in the present case, he has already undergone 08 months and 03 days period inside jail, and he is stated to be involved in one another case. As per the custody certificate of petitioner Palwinder Singh @ Bhinder Singh @ Parwinder @ Chuhi (in CRM-M-22131-2026), no incarceration period has been undergone by him in the present case, as he is already convicted and undergoing sentences in other three NDPS cases. Apart from the said cases in which petitioner has been convicted, he is stated to be involved in many other criminal cases.

Upon being asked by the Court, learned State counsel submits that no narcotic contraband or any other incriminating material was recovered from the personal search of the petitioners herein. The applicability of the rigours of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, as discussed in the bail order of co-accused Amolak Singh @ LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh CRM-M-17244-2026 CRM-M-17312-2026 CRM-M-22131-2026 8 Anmol, shall also apply to the present petitions for the purpose of considering the plea of bail of the petitioners herein.

In view of the circumstances discussed in the order dated

23.03.2026 passed in CRM-M-55922-2025 and other connected cases (Annexure P-3); and order dated 31.10.2025 passed in CRM-M-50011- 2025, and admitted position that nothing was recovered from the personal search of any of the petitioners, this Court finds that there is no need to detain them inside jail for an indefinite period, merely on the ground that they were confined in Barrack No. 5 and Ward No. 6 of Central Jail, Goindwal.

With regard to the submissions made by learned State counsel, this Court is of the view that custody period of the petitioner(s) in the present case would not commence for the purpose of this case, until the sentences awarded in the other cases are either suspended or the petitioner(s) complete the sentence period therein. However, till such time, in a case like the present one, where no narcotic contraband has been recovered from the petitioners, their continued detention in custody for an indefinite period, is not warranted.

Any of the discussion done and recorded here above, shall not be construed as an expression of opinion on the facts of the case. Therefore, trial Court is expected to decide the case by taking an independent view, on the basis of evidence available on record, as expeditiously as possible in accordance with law.

Petitions stand disposed of. A photocopy of this order be placed on the files of other connected cases. (SANJAY VASHISTH) JUDGE

05.05.2026 Lavisha Whether speaking/reasoned: Yes/No Whether Reportable: Yes/No LAVISHA 2026.05.05 18:32 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document PHHC, Chandigarh