The Supreme Court has reiterated that officers of the Central & State agencies appointed under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act are police officers and therefore the 'confessional' statements recorded by them under Section 67 are not admissible.
The Division Bench comprising of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice V. Ramasubramanian while adjudicating upon an appeal by State against bail of an NDPS accused observed that he can take advantage of the Tofan Singh Vs. State of Tamil Nadu, 2013 Latest Caselaw 728 SC.
The High Court of Punjab and Haryana granted pre-arrest bail to the respondents-accused who were implicated for alleged offences under Sections 17, 27A and 85 of the NDPS Act, 1985.
The High Court decided to grant pre-arrest bail to the respondents on the only ground that no recovery was effected from the respondents and that they had been implicated only on the basis of the disclosure statement of the main accused Dinesh Kumar. Therefore, reliance was placed by the High Court in the majority judgment of this Court in Tofan Singh Vs. State of Tamil Nadu, 2013 Latest Caselaw 728 SC.
Noting that to grant anticipatory bail in a case of this nature was not really warranted, the Court noted that the High Court fell into an error in granting anticipatory bail to the respondents.
"In cases of this nature, the respondents may be able to take advantage of the decision in Tofan Singh Vs. State of Tamil Nadu (supra), perhaps at the time of arguing the regular bail application or at the time of final hearing after conclusion of the trial."
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