Madhya Pradesh High Court
Durgesh @ Lala Patel vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 23 July, 2021
Author: Rajendra Kumar Srivastava
1 CRA-1556-2019
The High Court Of Madhya Pradesh
CRA-1556-2019
(DURGESH @ LALA PATEL Vs THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH)
42
Jabalpur, Dated : 23-07-2021
Heard through Video Conferencing.
Shri Praveen Kumar Pandey, Advocate for the appellant.
Ku. Kamlesh Tamrakar, P.L. for the respondent-State.
Record of the Court below is available.
Heard on the question of admission and perused the record.
Appeal is admitted for final hearing.
Heard on I.A. No.9275/2020, which is second application for
suspension of sentence and grant of bail to the appellant-Durgeh @ Lala
Patel. The first application was dismissed on merit.
The appeal has been preferred under Section 374(2) of the
Cr.P.C.,1973 b y the appellant/accused against judgment dated 11.12.2018
passed by learned Special Judge (NDPS Act) Anuppur, District Anuppur
(MP), in SCNDPS/200011/2015, by which the appellant has been convicted
for offence under Section 20(B) (II)(C) and sentenced to undergo R.I. for 10
years with a fine of Rs.1 lac with default stipulation.
T he prosecution case in short is that on 20.2.2015, while Inspector
L . D . Singh (PW/15) was posted as Town Inspector, Police Station
Bhalumada, at 11:00 PM, an information was received by him that some
persons are coming with Cannabis (Ganja) from Tata Safari bearing
Registration No.MP-18-T/1621. This information has been recorded in the
Rojnamcha Sanha. Thereafter, said Tata Safari was checked by this witness.
During checking, he found that four persons were present in the said vehicle
and out of these four persons, one person fled away from the spot. 86.150 kg
of Cannabis (Ganja) was seized from the possession of the present appellant-
accused Durgesh Patel and co-accused Ramnarayan Patel and Shankar
Signature Not Verified
SAN
Vishwakarma.
Digitally signed by PALLAVI SINHA
Date: 2021.07.24 12:41:43 IST
2 CRA-1556-2019
Learned counsel for the appellant submits that accused-appellant is in
jail since 02.02.2017 and during trial he was detained in jail for more than one
year. He submits that present accused/appellant has been falsely implicated in
this case on the ground of enmity. The appellant has already undergone half
of the total jail sentence awarded out of 10 years. There are many
contradictions, omissions and improvements in the version of the prosecution
witnesses. This appeal is of year 2019. It is the time of COVID-19 due to
which final conclusion will take time. There are fair chances to succeed in the
case. Final hearing of this appeal will take time. Therefore, the application
filed on behalf of the appellant may be allowed and the period of his
remaining jail sentence may be suspended further and he may be released on
bail.
Learned Panel lawyer for the respondent/State has opposed the
application by submitting that the primafacie case is made out against the
appellant-accused and the seized quantity of contraband ganja is more than
commercial quantity, so appellant is not entitled for grant of bail.
Heard and perused the record.
Earlier on 17.03.2020, the detailed order has been passed and the
application was rejected on merit. After that, till now, there is no change in
circumstances of the case, except the detention period of the appellant but in
view of the verdict passed by the FUll Bench of this High Court in the case of
Dashrath Vs. State of M.P. passed in Cr.A. No. 1248/2005 solely on the
basis of detention period, jail sentence of the appellant cannot be suspended.
Considering the aforesaid circumstances, I am not inclined to allow this
application.
Accordingly, I.A. No. 9275/2020 is hereby dismissed.
List this matter for final hearing in due course.
(RAJENDRA KUMAR SRIVASTAVA)
JUDGE
Signature Not Verified
SAN
Pallavi
Digitally signed by PALLAVI SINHA
Date: 2021.07.24 12:41:43 IST
3 CRA-1556-2019
Signature Not Verified
SAN
Digitally signed by PALLAVI SINHA
Date: 2021.07.24 12:41:43 IST
