Rajkumar Netam vs State Of Chhattisgarh
2022 Latest Caselaw 7439 Chatt

                                                                                   Page 1 of 2

                       HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR
                                         Order Sheet
                                    CRA No. 1018 of 2021
Rajkumar Netam, S/o Shyam Singh Netam, Aged About 28 Years, R/o Khasriyapara, Singwar,
P.S. Ratanpur, District- Bilaspur (C.G.)
                                                                            ---- Appellant
                                         Versus
State of Chhattisgarh, Through: Station House Officer, Police Station- Ratanpur, District-
Bilaspur (C.G.)
                                                                          ---Respondent

09.12.2022 Ms. Vijay Laxmi Shroff, counsel for the appellant.

Mr. R.M. Solapurkar, Govt. Advocate for the State/respondent. Heard on application for suspension of sentence and grant of bail to the appellant.

By the impugned judgment dated 20.02.2020 passed by the learned Special Judge Bilaspur (C.G.) (under NDPS Act, 1985) in Special Case No. 23/2018, the appellant stands convicted, as under:-

Conviction Sentence U/s 20(b)(ii-C) of the : R.I. for 10 years and fine of Rs. 1,00,000/- in NDPS Act, 1985. default of payment of fine R.I. for 6 months. Learned counsel for the appellant would submit that the appellant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the case. He would further submit that the other co-accused namely Ajay Kumar Dhiver (CRA No. 421/2020) & Kunal Bhoi (CRA No. 764/2021) have already granted bail by this Court vide order dated 22.08.2022 by suspending the same set of sentence awarded to them. He would also submit that the appellant has suffered about 4 years & 10 months of jail sentence and there is no likelihood of the appeal coming up for final hearing in the near future, hence, it is prayed that the application be allowed and the appellant may be released on bail.

Learned State counsel opposes the bail application and submitted that

there is clinching evidence against the appellant regarding commission of offence, therefore, the appellants are not entitled for grant of bail.

Considering the fact that the appellant has suffered 4 years & 10 months of jail sentence out of total jail sentence i.e. 10 years awarded to him, the appeal being of the year 2021, final hearing of the same will likely to take time and also considering the fact that the co-accused namely Ajay Kumar Dhiver & Kunal Bhoi have already granted bail by this Court, on the ground of parity also, I am inclined to suspend the sentence of the appellant and release him on bail.

Accordingly, the application for suspension of sentence and grant of bail is allowed and it is directed that the substantive jail sentence imposed upon the appellant shall remain suspended during pendency of this appeal and he shall be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond in sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- along with two local sureties of the like sum to the satisfaction of the concerned trial Court for his appearance before Registry of this Court on 25th January, 2023. He shall thereafter continue to appear before the Registry of this Court on all such subsequent dates as are given to him by the Registry of this Court till the disposal of this appeal.

It is made clear that the date to be given for appearance to the appellant should not have interval of more than 90 days.

List this appeal for final hearing in its chronological order.

Sd/-

(Narendra Kumar Vyas) Judge

Arun