Gujarat High Court
Bharatsinh Kanaksinh Jadeja vs State Of Gujarat on 4 August, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/21121/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR SUCCESSIVE REGULAR BAIL -
AFTER CHARGESHEET) NO. 21121 of 2024
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BHARATSINH KANAKSINH JADEJA
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
JAYDEEP H SINDHI(9585) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR UTKARSH R SHARMA(6157) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR ADITYA JADEJA, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M. R. MENGDEY
Date : 04/08/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. The Applicant has filed this Application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for enlarging the Applicant on Regular Bail in connection with complaint being F.No. DRI/AZU/GI-02/ENQ-01/NDPS/2024 registered with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence(DRI), Ahmedabad Zonal Unit for the offence under Sections 8(c), 21, 23, 28 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985.
2. Heard learned advocate Mr. Jaydeep H. Sindhi appearing for the applicant. He submitted that in the present offence, investigation is over and charge sheet has been filed. The applicant has been arrested in connection with the present offence on 03.04.2024 and since then he is in custody. The applicant has undergone incarceration for a period of more than 15 months by now and there has been no possibility of the trial of the offence getting over in the near future. He submitted that Page 1 of 5 Uploaded by MR.AMIT HEMANTKUMAR SONAGARA(HCD0079) on Wed Aug 06 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Aug 06 23:34:57 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/21121/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025 undefined the applicant is aged about 61 years and he is suffering from some mental ailment and because of the said ailment, the applicant is not in a position to perform daily routine on his own. He further submitted that the applicant was the Founder Member of the company in question. The company was involved in production of Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride, which is a precursor for preparation of Ketamine. The company was holding license for manufacturing of the said Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride. It is the case of prosecution that the said substance was responsible for manufacture of the contraband substance of Ketamine. However, the contraband substance of Ketamine cannot be directly derived from Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride and the precursor is required to go through some more process for derivation of Ketamine. He further submitted that the applicant had resigned as the director of the company in the month of June 2023 and thereafter the other accused had taken over the reigns of the company. He therefore submitted to allow the present application and enlarge the applicant on bail subject to suitable conditions.
3. Learned advocate Shri Utkarsh Sharma appearing on behalf of the Respondent-NCB has opposed the present application.
4. Learned APP has also opposed the present application contending that looking to the nature of offence, this Court may not exercise the discretion in favour of the applicant and the Application may be dismissed.
5. Heard learned advocate for the parties. At the outset, it is Page 2 of 5 Uploaded by MR.AMIT HEMANTKUMAR SONAGARA(HCD0079) on Wed Aug 06 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Aug 06 23:34:57 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/21121/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025 undefined required to be noted that since it was the case on behalf of the applicant that he was suffering from some ailment related to brain and because of the same he was not in a position to perform daily routine on his own, this Court had asked the learned APP to produce the medical certificate of the applicant from the concerned jail. Accordingly, the certificate dated 25.06.2025 was produced by learned APP before this Court. The said certificate indicated that the patient was the known case of the diabetes, hypertension and brain infarct. The applicant was taking some medicines prescribed to him by his physician. Thereafter, another certificate of the Hospital for Mental Health, Ahmedabad has been produced by the learned APP on record of this Court today. The said certificate indicates that the present applicant was examined by the team of Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologist, Medical Officer, Psychiatric Social Worker, Occupational Therapist and Staff Nurse. The examination of the applicant indicated that he was found not to have any psychiatric complaints. There was no history of sadness of mood, deathwishes, anxiety, sleep disturbance or fearfulness. The examination further indicated that the applicant was well oriented, had euthymic mood, coherent speech with normal volume and tempo, no perpetual, thought and memory abnormalities. The judgment was intact and the patient was of average intelligence. Neither of these certificates indicate about the applicant suffering from the ailment of such a nature which would disable him from performing him his daily routine on his own.
6. From the record, it appears that the respondent authorities Page 3 of 5 Uploaded by MR.AMIT HEMANTKUMAR SONAGARA(HCD0079) on Wed Aug 06 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Aug 06 23:34:57 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/21121/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025 undefined had received an intelligence input that an export consignment was found at the Ahmedabad Air Cargo Complex which was suspected to contain Ketamine. On the basis of the said information received by the authorities, the necessary inquiry was carried out and it was found that the consignment in question was to be exported to Bangkok-Thailand. In the shipping bill it was declared that the consignment was containing Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride worth 50 Kgs. The FSL examination of the substance in question confirmed that what was contained in the export consignment was Ketamine and not Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride. The further investigation into it revealed that the said substance was manufactured by M/s Meghashri Agri Pharma Chem Pvt. Ltd. The said firm was licensed for manufacture of Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride. It is pertinent to note that Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride is a precursor for production of the contraband substance of Ketamine. The facts emerging for record indicate that the contraband substance of Ketamine was being exported by the said Meghashri Agri Pharma Chem Pvt. Ltd. under the guise of Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride.
7. The present applicant was one of the Founder Director of the said Meghashri Agri Pharma Chem Pvt. Ltd. During the course of investigation, certain material was retrieved from the mobile phone of the present applicant which indicated the inclination on the part of the applicant to manufacture and export of the psychotropic substances and therefore, the applicant along with the other co-accused had hatched a conspiracy for the said purpose and in furtherance of the said Page 4 of 5 Uploaded by MR.AMIT HEMANTKUMAR SONAGARA(HCD0079) on Wed Aug 06 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Aug 06 23:34:57 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/21121/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025 undefined conspiracy, the applicant had received funds from one Nagarajan Darmalingam who was the Malaysian national for installation of plant and machinery for manufacture of Ketamine. The said Nagarajan Darmalingam had a full access to the factory premises of Meghashri Agri Pharma Chem Pvt. Ltd. as he was appointed by the present applicant as the head of the quality assurance. He was thus overseeing the activity of manufacture of Ketamine under the guise of Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride. It also appears from the record that the applicant had accumulated the technical knowhow for manufacture of Ketamine from the said Nagarajan Darmalingam and in return had also provided the said technical knowhow to all the directors of the company. It is sought to be contended on behalf of the applicant that the applicant had resigned as a director of the company since June 2023 because of his ailment. However, the record suggested that even after having resigned as a director of the company, the applicant had attended several meeting of the company wherein the modus-operandi for manufacture of Ketamine was discussed. The record also indicates, that in the past, the said Meghashri Agri Pharma Chem Pvt. Ltd. had made attempts to export Ketamine under the guise of Hydroxylimine Hydrochloride, however, those consignments had been intercepted by the Malaysian Authorities.
8. Having regard to these aspects, no case is made out. Hence, the application is dismissed.
(M. R. MENGDEY,J) AHS Page 5 of 5 Uploaded by MR.AMIT HEMANTKUMAR SONAGARA(HCD0079) on Wed Aug 06 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Aug 06 23:34:57 IST 2025