Bollam Appala Narsa Appala Narasa ... vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh,
2022 Latest Caselaw 7261 AP

       THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI

             CRIMINAL PETITION No.7122 OF 2022


ORDER:

This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 438 of the Criminal

Procedure Code ('Cr.P.C.' in short), seeking pre-arrest bail, by the

petitioner/Accused No.3 in Crime No.33 of 2022 of Rolugunta Police

Station, Visakhapatnam Rural District, registered for the offence

punishable under Section 20(b)(ii)(C) read with 8(c) of the Narcotic

Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 ('NDPS Act' in short).

2. It is the case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on credible

information, on 10.02.2022 at 10.00 a.m. when the police went to the

scene of offence, found A-4, A-8 and A-9 with 132 kgs ganja and

seized the same under the cover of mediators report, hence, registered

the present crime.

3. Heard Sri K.J. Amrutha Raju, learned Counsel for the petitioner

and Sri Sravan Kumar Naidana, learned Special Assistant Public

Prosecutor for the respondent-State.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner, in elaboration to what has

been raised in the grounds, contended that the petitioner was

implicated falsely in the present case and nothing has been seized from

the petitioner and basing on the confessional statement given by co-

accused, which is a weak piece of evidence, the petitioner is

apprehending arrest and there are no criminal antecedents against the

petitioner.

He further contended that the petitioner would cooperate with

the investigating agency and would abide by any conditions imposed

by this Court. Accordingly, prayed to consider the pre-arrest bail to the

petitioner.

5. On the other hand, learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor,

contended that the contraband seized in this crime is a commercial

quantity and further contended that in view of the principle that

confessional statement is weak piece of evidence and cannot be taken

at this stage and in the event, the petitioner is granted pre-arrest bail,

he may not cooperate with the investigation and may threaten the

witnesses. Accordingly, prayed for dismissal of the petition.

6. On perusal of the record, prima facie it shows that basing on the

confessional statement, the petitioner is implicated in this case.

In Bullu Das Vs. State of Bihar 1 , while dealing with the

confessional statements made by the accused persons before a police

officer, the Supreme Court held as under:

"7. The confessional statement, Ex. 5, stated to have been made by the appellant was before the police officer in charge of the Godda Town Police Station where the offence was registered in respect of the murder of Kusum Devi. The FIR was registered at the police station on 8-8-1995 at about 12.30 p.m. On 9-8-1995, it was after the appellant was arrested and brought before Rakesh Kumar that he recorded the confessional statement of the appellant. Surprisingly, no objection was taken by the defence for admitting it in evidence. The trial court also did not consider whether such a confessional statement is admissible in evidence or not. The High Court has also not considered this aspect. The confessional statement was clearly inadmissible as it was made by an accused before a police officer after the investigation had started."

Even in Tofan Singh v. State of Tamilnadu2 , the Apex Court

held that any confession recorded under Section 67 of the NDPS Act, is

inadmissible in trial under the said Act.

8. In view of submissions of both the learned counsel and in view

of the judgment cited supra and as there are no criminal antecedents

against the petitioner, this Court is inclined to grant bail to the

(1998) 8 SCC 130

2020 SCC online SC 882

petitioner, however, duly taking the apprehension of the learned

Special Assistant Public Prosecutor into consideration, on the following

conditions:

(i) The petitioner/A-3 shall be released on bail in the event of his

arrest in connection with Crime No.33 of 2022 of Rolugunta Police

Station, Visakhapatnam Rural on his executing self bond for

Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) with two sureties for a like

sum each to the satisfaction of the Station House Officer of Rolugunta

Police Station, Visakhapatnam Rural, Visakhapatnam District;

(ii) On such, release, the petitioner shall appear before the Station

House Officer, Rolugunta Police Station, Visakhapatnam Rural thrice in

a week i.e, on every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday between 10.00

a.m. and 12.00 noon till filing of the charge sheet;

(iii) Apart from that the petitioner shall appear before the

Investigating Officer whenever called by the Investigating Officer for

the purpose of investigation; and

(iv) The petitioner shall not directly or indirectly contact any other

witnesses under any circumstances and any such attempt shall be

construed as an attempt of influencing the witnesses and shall not

tamper the evidence and shall co-operate with the investigation.

Further, the petitioner shall scrupulously comply with the above

conditions and if there is breach of any of the above conditions, it will

be viewed seriously and it also entails cancellation of the bail and in

such case prosecution shall move appropriate application for such

cancellation.

Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed.

Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand closed.

________________________ JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI 21st September, 2022 GBS