Delhi High Court
Naman Sharma vs State Through Narcotics Control ... on 4 March, 2022
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Reserved on: February 24, 2022
Decided on: March 04, 2022
+ BAIL APPLN. 3673/2021
NAMAN SHARMA ..... Petitioner
Represented by: Mr. Anurag Bindal, Mr. Ankur Gupta
and Mr. B. Khan, Advocates.
Versus
STATE THROUGH NARCOTICS CONTROL
BUREAU ..... Respondent
Represented by: Mr. Rajesh Manchanda, Special P.P.
for the NCB.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MUKTA GUPTA
MUKTA GUPTA, J.
1. By this petition, the petitioner seeks regular bail in case No.
VIII/46/DZU/2021 under Sections 8(c)/20/22/29 of the NDPS Act on a
complaint filed by the respondent-NCB.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that even as per the
statement recorded under Section 67 of the NDPS Act which is inadmissible
in evidence, the best case of the respondent is that the petitioner used to
consume Ganja in the year 2017 and the payments thereof were made in the
year 2021. Even as per the investigation, the group was created by Mohd.
Aslam and Parichay Arora and merely because the petitioner was also made
an Admin of the group, the liability of the entire group cannot be fastened on
Signature Not Verified
By:JUSTICE
MUKTA GUPTA
the petitioner. Even from the transactions of payments made to Mohd.
Aslam and Neil Singhvi by the petitioner, at best, four or five transactions
have been shown wherein amounts transferred are ₹11,000, ₹5700, ₹1000,
₹2000 etc. The petitioner is not a drug trafficker. Though not admitting,
even if at some stage the petitioner consumed the drugs, the same would not
amount to dealing in a drug trafficking racket. He further states that the
similarly placed co-accused namely Devesh Vasa has been granted bail by
this Court and Aashray Pandey has been granted bail by the learned Special
Court and hence, on parity, the petitioner be also granted bail. The petitioner
was working after completing his studies at Kolkata when he was picked up
by the officers of the respondent and implicated in this case. The complaint
has been filed and the petitioner is no more required for investigation.
3. Learned counsel for the respondent states that in view of the embargo
under Section 37 of the NDPS Act, no case for grant of bail to the petitioner
is made out as there is every possibility that on being released on bail, the
petitioner will again indulge in same kind of activities and the petitioner
being a part of the larger drug network, his role cannot be segregated from
the other accused.
4. Case of the prosecution in nutshell is that on the basis of an
information, Guhan Sarvothaman was intercepted at the IGI Airport on 4th
August 2021. On his search, 30 gms. of ganja and 0.45 gms. of Ecstasy
were recovered. In the interrogation, he revealed about his friend Rahul
Mishra, his address and the possibility of recovery of contraband from his
house. Search was made at the house of Guhan Sarvothaman at Greater
Noida, resulting in recovery of 1 kg of ganja and ₹15.5 lakhs in cash.
Search was also made at the house of Rahul Mishra at Faridabad from
where, 1.05 kg of ganja was recovered. Guhan Sarvothaman further
Signature Not Verified
By:JUSTICE
MUKTA GUPTA
disclosed about one accused Aashray Pandey, who was thereafter
intercepted at Ambience Mall with a parcel containing 410 gms. of ganja.
Guhan Sarvothaman also informed about one Tareena Bhatnagar who had
promised to get him high quality ganja and for which, she had paid a sum of
₹6 lakhs to Jasbir Singh. Thus, the links of Jasbir Singh were sought to be
traced and it was found that Jasbir Singh operated under the pseudo name
Optims Prime and Sharadha Surana operated under the pseudo name
Beanskey on Telegram App in Orient Express Group. The Orient Express
Group, wherein, number of people were indulging in sale and purchase of
narcotics was created by Parichay Arora and Mohd. Aslam and the
petitioner was one of the Admins of the said social media group. On the
disclosure of Jasbir Singh and Sharadha Surana, search was conducted at the
house of Suvashish Roy at Greater Noida, from where, 1.250 kgs. of Ganja,
16 gms. Ecstasy pills, 6 gms. Heroine, 40 gms. of Charas and 130 gms. of
suspected psychotropic substance in different coloured little pills were found
and 39.700 gms. concentrate of cannabis and 2.530 gms. liquid cannabis
from a parcel at Foreign Post Office, Kolkata. One more accused
Raghunath Kumar was identified who was recognized as Shopper stop on
Wicket App who used to arrange narcotics drugs. According to the
investigation, the contraband was marketed on social media platforms and
then delivered to the customers/consumers through parcels.
5. Admittedly, even as per the prosecution, no recovery of contraband
was made from the petitioner and the only evidence against him is that he
was one of the Admins of Orient express group which was created by Mohd.
Aslam and Parichay Arora and that the petitioner had transferred certain
sums of money. As per the statement of accounts placed on record, a sum of
₹11,000/- was transferred by the petitioner to Mohd. Aslam on 21st June
Signature Not Verified
By:JUSTICE
MUKTA GUPTA
2020, ₹5700/- to Neil Singhvi on 9th October 2020. Further, two
transactions of ₹1000/- each and a transaction of ₹2300/- have been made to
Parichay Arora. Even in the statement of the petitioner recorded under
Section 67 of the NDPS Act, which is not admissible in evidence in view of
the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court reported as (2021) 4 SCC 1
Tofan Singh Vs. State of Tamil Nadu, it is stated that in August 2020 during
the lockdown, the petitioner was looking to buy weed for his consumption
through telegram, thus used the keywords like 'weeds/marijuana', when he
entered into two groups where he got scammed of ₹3500/-. In the same
group, there was a user named Chico (Aslam) who asked the petitioner to
join another group (The Orient Express) where there was a seller with the
user name Pptheplug (Parichay Arora) who sent him some weed for the first
time in advance without paying him which made him believe that he was a
real seller. Later Aslam and Parichay Arora started adding more people in
the group and made it a group of 200 members. In the group, there were 5-7
sellers who used to send weed parcels via courier services and the petitioner
was one of them who used to buy for his consumption.
6. From the facts of the complaint as noted above and even based on the
statement under Section 67 of the NDPS Act and the money transactions, it
is evident that the petitioner was at best consuming narcotics drugs which he
used to buy from the sellers in the group. Complaint has already been filed
by the respondent; the petitioner is in judicial custody since 4th September
2021 and is no more required for investigation. Consequently, this Court
deems it fit to grant bail to the petitioner.
7. It is therefore directed that the petitioner be released on bail on his
furnishing a personal bond in the sum of ₹1 lakh with two surety bonds of
the like amount each, subject to the satisfaction of the learned Trial
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By:JUSTICE
MUKTA GUPTA
Court/CMM/Duty Magistrate, out of which, one surety would be a family
member of the petitioner; further subject to the conditions that the petitioner
will not leave the country without the prior permission of the Court
concerned and in case of change of residential address and/or mobile
number, the same will be intimated to the Court concerned by way of an
affidavit. Further, the petitioner will appear before the NCB office at
Kolkata on the first Monday of every calendar month at 6.00 P.M.
8. Petition is disposed of.
9. Order be uploaded on the website of this Court.
(MUKTA GUPTA)
JUDGE
MARCH 04, 2022
akb
Signature Not Verified
By:JUSTICE
MUKTA GUPTA
