Satish Kumar vs State Of Punjab
2023 Latest Caselaw 18891 P&H

                                                   Neutral Citation No:=2023:PHHC:140493




206

      IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
                     CHANDIGARH

                                                 CRM-M-21422-2023 (O&M)
                                                 Date of Decision: 02.11.2023

SATISH KUMAR
                                                             ...Petitioner
                                        Versus

STATE OF PUNJAB
                                                             ...Respondent

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSH BUNGER

Present :    Mr. Gurpal Singh Sandhu, Advocate
             for the petitioner.

             Mr. Vipin Pal Yadav, Addl. A.G., Punjab.

HARSH BUNGER, J. (ORAL)

1. Petitioner (Satish Kumar) has filed this second petition under

Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking grant of regular bail

in case bearing FIR No.0166 dated 09.07.2022 under Sections 15, 21 and 22

of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 registered at

Police Station City Sri Muktsar Sahib, District Sri Muktsar Sahib.

2. The first petition bearing CRM-M-47478-2022 filed under

Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the petitioner was

withdrawn vide order dated 28.02.2023 passed by this Court.

3. Pursuant to the advance copy of petition having been

served upon learned State counsel, status report by way of an affidavit of

Sh. Satnam Singh, PPS, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sub-Division Sri

Muktsar Sahib, District Sri Muktsar Sahib on behalf of respondent No.1-

State of Punjab, has been filed, which is already on record.

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4. Custody certificate dated 01.11.2023 of the petitioner has been

filed by learned State counsel in the Court today and the same is taken on

record, subject to all just exceptions.

5. Succinctly, the afore-said case FIR has been registered on the

basis of ruqa prepared by Balwinder Singh ASI, Police Station City

Sri Muktsar Sahib; wherein it was stated that on 09.07.2022, he alongwith

his fellow employee was going towards Goneana Road, Abohar Road etc. in

a private vehicle for patrolling and checking of suspicious person. It was

stated that when the police party reached near Cremation ground,

Goneana Road, Sri Muktsar Sahib, secret informer gave an information that

Bullet son of Bhola Singh, resident of Gali No.04, Goneana Road,

Sri Muktsar Sahib, Baba Kattar, resident near Baba Charan Dass Dera

Goneana Road, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Nikka son of Gora, resident of

Goneana Chowk, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Deepu son of Kakku Kabaria, resident

of Goneana Road, Gali No.03, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Kamaljit Kaur wife of

Jaskaran Singh resident of Gurgapuri Basti, Gali No.09, Sri Muktsar Sahib,

Rajinder Kumar son of Jagan Nath, resident of in front of Tari Di Hatti,

Goneana Road, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Jimmy resident of Gali No.15, Goneana

Road, Sri Muktsar Sahib and Geja resident of Safaidiya Wali Basti, Goneana

Road, Sri Muktsar Sahib, are indulged in the sale of narcotic/drugs and in

case, a raid is conducted then they can be apprehended with huge quantity of

heroin/intoxicant tablets/drugs etc.

6. Accordingly, on the basis of the afore-said ruqa, the FIR in

question, was registered against the accused persons. As per the status

report, upon the raid being conducted; accused Kattar Singh @ Kattar Baba

and Pardeep Kumar @ Deepu, were arrested on 09.07.2022, from whom,

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780 Nos. and 810 Nos. of intoxicating tablets, respectively were recovered,

which were taken into the police custody after following the due procedure.

It is further mentioned in the status report that during questioning, accused

Pardeep Kumar @ Deepu disclosed that his brother Satish Kumar son of

Rajinder Kumar (present petitioner) is also engaged in selling and

consuming the intoxicants; accordingly, Satish Kumar (petitioner) was

nominated as an accused on 11.07.2022. As per status report,

petitioner-Satish Kumar was arrested on 12.07.2022 and 105 Nos. Alpracan

tablets were recovered from him and hence, the offence under Section 27 of

the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, was added vide DDR

No.46 dated 29.10.2022. It is mentioned in the status report that the total

recovery in the FIR is 2150 Nos. intoxicant tablets, 55 grams intoxicating

powder and 03 Kgs. poppy husk, which were sent to the Forensic Science

Laboratory, Bathinda and the FSL reports (Annexures R-1, R-2, R-3 and

R-4) were received in that regard and the recovered contraband is

accordingly stated to be falling within the ambit of commercial quantity.

7. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner

has not been named in the FIR and has been nominated on the basis of

disclosure statement of co-accused namely, Pardeep Kumar @ Deepu and

approximately 105 Nos. of Alpracan tablets have been shown to be

recovered from the petitioner. Learned counsel further submits that the said

recovery has been foisted upon the petitioner and even otherwise, recovery

of 105 Nos. of Alpracan tablets comes to 16 grams of Salt Alprazolam,

which would fall under the category of intermediate quantity and the rigors

of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, would not be applicable. It is further

submitted that in fact, the petitioner has no concern with the alleged crime

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and he was arrested in relation to some other case as would be borne out

from the newspaper cutting (Annexure P-4). It is submitted that the

petitioner has been in custody since 12.07.2022 and till date, he has

undergone custody of more than 01 year and 04 months (as on 01.11.2023).

It is submitted that the other co-accused in this case FIR namely,

Manjeet Kaur, Sukhjeet Kaur @ Mandeep Kaur, Jasvir Kaur and Kashu

@ Kash, have already been granted regular bail vide CRM-M-39961-2022,

CRM-M-40996-2022, CRM-M-42299-2022 and CRM-M-54941-2022,

respectively and the said bail orders have been attached with the petition

collectively as Annexure P-3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has also

handed over the orders dated 19.01.2023 and 30.05.2023 passed by this

Court, granting regular bail to other accused namely, Ravi Singh @ Bullet

and Lovepreet Singh alias Jimmy, vide CRM-M-1899-2023 and

CRM-M-14087-2023, respectively in the Court today, which are taken on

record, subject to all just exceptions and marked as Mark `A'. It is submitted

that the investigation in the case is complete and the challan was presented

on 13.12.2022 and even a supplementary challan against another co-accused

has been filed on 30.03.2023. It is submitted that the trial is likely to take

some time to conclude. Learned counsel for the petitioner has further

submitted that the petitioner is ready to abide by all the conditions as may be

imposed by this Court or by the trial Court. Learned counsel further submits

that the petitioner is also willing to furnish security in the form of Fixed

Deposit Receipt (F.D.R.) before the concerned Court, so as to ensure his

presence before the Court on each and every date of hearing. Accordingly,

prayer for grant of regular bail is made.

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8. On the other hand, learned State counsel opposes the plea of

petitioner for grant of regular bail on the ground of seriousness of offence

and also that the petitioner is a habitual offender as he is involved in about

25 cases and in case, he is enlarged on regular bail then he may tamper with

the evidence and influence the material witnesses or he may abscond and

flee from justice which may delay the trial. However, it is not disputed by

learned State counsel that the petitioner is in custody since 12.07.2022 and

that the challan has already been presented in the Court and the other

co-accused in this case have already been granted regular bail. It is also not

disputed that the alleged recovery from the petitioner alone falls under the

category of intermediate quantity and also that the petitioner has been

nominated as an accused on the basis of a disclosure statement of another

co-accused.

9. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the

paper book; status report as well as custody certificate with their able

assistance.

10. In the instant case, initially the FIR was registered against

nine accused namely, (i) Ravi Singh alias Bullet son of Bhola Singh

(2) Kattar Singh @ Kattar Baba son of Natha Singh (3) Nikka son of Gora

(4) Akashdeep Singh alias Kashu son of Suraj Singh alias Bhinda

(5) Pardeep Kumar alias Deepu son of Rajinder Kumar alias Kukku Kabaria

(6) Kamaljeet Kaur wife of Jaskaran Singh (7) Rajinder Kumar son of

JaganNath (8) Lovepreet Singh @ Jimmi son of Baldev Singh and

(9) Geja Singh son of Kaur Singh, on the basis of secret information

received by the police alleging that they are indulged into illegal activities of

selling the intoxicating articles. The petitioner was nominated as an accused

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on the basis of a disclosure statement made by Pardeep Kumar @ Deepu,

who was stated to be the brother of the petitioner herein. As per the status

report, 105 tablets mark Alpracan were recovered from the petitioner and the

following report dated 30.08.2022 of the `Regional Testing Forensic Science

Laboratory Bathinda, Punjab' has been submitted :-

Articles Received One parcel alleged to be seized from S/v Satish Kumar @ Romi, sealed with one seal of `RP' and alleged to contain Intoxicating Tablets.

Seal on the parcel was found intact and tallied with the specimen seal impression.

                                        On opening the parcel was found to
                                        contain fifteen (15) peach coloured
                                        tablets in a strip labelled as
                                        `ALPRACAN-0.5'          (Alprazolam
                                        Tablets IP 0.5 mg, Batch No.CBT-
                                        0184/22, MFG. 03/2022, EXP.
                                        02/2024).

                                        Average Weight = 160.82 mg/tablet

                      Purpose of        Analysis and Report
                      reference

            Identification &Tests :

Ingredient Average quantity of ingredient present in present the parcel.

Alprazolam 0.48 mg/tablet

REPORT The tablets contained in the parcel under reference have been analyzed by chemical, TLC and instrumental analysis. On the basis of analysis, the ingredient along with its quantity found present has been given at serial No.8 (Identification and Tests) of this report."

11. A perusal of the afore-said FSL report would manifest that the

alleged recovery made from the petitioner i.e. Alpracan-0.5 is stated to have Page6|9

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contain 16 grams of Alprazolam salt, which would fall under the category of

intermediate quantity. Although, it is sought to be contended by the learned

State counsel that the total recovery in the instant case FIR would fall under

the category of "commercial quantity"; however, the same would be a

debatable issue during the course of the trial.

As regards the plea of the learned State counsel that the

petitioner is involved in 25 other cases, learned counsel for the petitioner, in

rebuttal, has relied upon the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in

Maulana Mohd. Amir Rashadi v. State of U.P. and another, 2012(2) SCC

382 to contend that the facts and circumstances of the present case are to be

seen while deciding a bail application and the bail application of the

petitioner cannot be rejected solely on the ground that he/she is involved in

other cases. The relevant portion of the said judgment is reproduced herein

below :-

"As observed by the High Court, merely on the basis of criminal antecedents, the claim of the second respondent cannot be rejected. In other words, it is the duty of the Court to find out the role of the accused in the case in which he has been charged and other circumstances such as possibility of fleeing away from the jurisdiction of the Court etc."

12. Even otherwise, a perusal of the custody certificate would

indicate that the petitioner has been in custody for the last more than 01 year

and 04 months (as on 01.11.2023) and in all the cases wherein the petitioner

is stated to be involved; the petitioner is on bail. It is not disputed that the

investigation in this case is complete and the challan already stand

presented; thus, the trial is likely to take some time. Furthermore, the other

co-accused have already been granted regular bail.

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Considering the totality of circumstances, in my considered

view, the petitioner would be entitled to regular bail.

13. So far as the apprehension expressed by learned State counsel

that the witnesses could be influenced by petitioner, suffice it to state that in

the event of any such conduct, the prosecution can always approach the

competent court for cancellation of bail. Accordingly, it is observed that the

State/Prosecuting Agency/State police shall be at liberty to observe the

behaviour of the petitioner during bail period, and in case it feels that the

petitioner is indulging in influencing any of the witnesses or tampering with

the prosecution evidence in any manner or otherwise causing interference

with the progress of trial, it shall be open for the State/Prosecuting

Agency/State police to move the trial Court for cancellation of bail, which

shall be decided by the trial Court on merits.

14. In view of the above discussion, present petition is allowed and

the petitioner namely, Satish Kumar is ordered to be released on regular bail

subject to his furnishing bail/surety bonds to the satisfaction of the trial

Court/Illaqa Magistrate/Duty Magistrate concerned. However, the concerned

Station House Officer shall be informed about the release of petitioner and

the petitioner shall inform the concerned Station House Officer about his

address at which he intends to reside during the pendency of case/trial and

any change in the address shall be communicated to the concerned Station

House Officer, forthwith. The petitioner would also furnish his telephone

number to the concerned Station House Officer. He would also furnish his

undertaking to the effect that he will not indulge in any illegal activity. The

petitioner shall also appear before the concerned Police Station/Station

House Officer on every Monday of each month till the conclusion of trial.

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15. In addition, the petitioner (or anyone on his behalf) shall

prepare a Fixed Deposit Receipt (F.D.R.) in the sum of Rs.2,00,000/- and

submit the same with the trial Court. The same would be liable to be

forfeited as per law, in case the petitioner remains absent from trial without

any sufficient cause.

16. Nothing expressed here-in-above shallbe construed to be an

observation on merits of the case and the facts and circumstances recorded

above are only for consideration of the prayer for bail at this stage.

17. The petition is accordingly disposed of.

18. All pending application(s), if any, shall also stand closed.

November 02, 2023                                     (HARSH BUNGER)
gurpreet                                                  JUDGE



                Whether speaking/reasoned:                Yes/No
                Whether reportable:                       Yes/No




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