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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
L. NAGESWARA RAO, DEEPAK GUPTA, JJ.
SUJIT TIWARI – APPELLANT(S)
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANOTHER – RESPONDENT(S)
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1897 OF 2019 (@SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. 3478 OF 2019)
Decided on : 28-01-2020
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 – Sections 36-A and 37 – Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Section 167(2) – Bail application – Seizure of huge quantity of narcotic substance from ship – Appellant may be aware that his brother was indulging in some illegal activity because huge amount of money could not be made otherwise – However, at this stage it cannot be said with certainty whether he was aware that drugs were being smuggled on ship or not, though allegation is that he made such a statement to NCB under Section 67 of NDPS Act – At this stage, case of appellant is totally different from other accused – Reasonable possibility is there that he may be acquitted – He has been behind bars or more than 2 years and he is a young man aged about 25 years – He is a B. Tech Graduate – This is a fit case where appellant is entitled to bail because there is a possibility that he was unaware of illegal activities of his brother and other crew members – Case of appellant is different from that of all other accused – Bail granted against stringent conditions. (Paras 10, 11, 12 and 13)
Facts of the case:
Present bail application has been filed by one of the accused in connection with carrying contraband substance in the nature of narcotics in the ship.
Findings of Court:
Under facts and circumstances of this case we feel that this is a fit case where the appellant is entitled to bail because there is a possibility that he was unaware of the illegal activities of his brother and the other crew members. The case of the appellant is different from that of all the other accused, whether it be Master of the ship, the crew members or the persons who introduced the Master to the prospective buyers and the prospective buyers.
Result : Appeal disposed of in terms.
JUDGMENT
Deepak Gupta, J.
This bail application has been filed by one of the accused and we are giving the facts necessary only for the decision of his case.
2. The Indian Coast Guard received some intelligence inputs with regard to suspicious activities of a ship MV Hennry. Therefore, the Indian Coast Guard took their own ship and intercepted the vessel on 29.07.2017. The intercepted vessel MV Hennry was flying a flag of Panama. The Master of the ship was one Suprit Tiwari, and there were 7 other crew members, all Indian nationals. The Master and the crew members were not in possession of any licence, permit and could not even produce any document pertaining to departure from last port of call i.e. Abu Dhabi in U.A.E. or for the next port of call, i.e., Bhavnagar in Gujarat. It is alleged that the Master Suprit Tiwari when questioned admitted that they were carrying contraband substance in the nature of narcotics in the ship. He identified the locations and approximately 1445 kg of narcotics substance in 1526 packets was recovered. This was hidden in two cavities modified in the two tanks on both sides at stern of the vessel and also in the bollards and railings on both sides of the weather deck. These cavities and railings had been fabricated for concealing narcotics which were stored in water proof packets.
3. Information in this regard was given to the Narcotics Control Bureau, Ahmedabad (for short 'NCB'). The NCB carried out investigation and after completing some investigation, filed a complaint before the Special Judge, NDPS Court at Porbandar in Gujarat on 22.12.2017 against the Master and the 7 crew members and 5 other persons including the appellant Sujit Tiwari, who is the brother of the Master of the ship Suprit Tiwari. In the complaint it is mentioned that after the Indian Coast Guard informed the NCB, a team of NCB went to Porbandar and once the ship MV Hennry came to the jetty on 31.07.2017, the same was boarded by the officials of the NCB, including the Intelligence Officer. Information was collected by the officials of the Indian Coast Guard and the Intelligence Officer opened one of the packets and found that it contained a substance which was a light brownish powder which on testing gave positive result for heroin. Thereafter, all the 8 persons i.e., Master and crew of the ship were detained and the contraband substance was off-loaded from the vessel and taken to the premises of the police authorities. Thereafter, the narcotic substance was weighed, samples were taken and further investigation was done.
4. According to Suprit Tiwari he was working for an Iranian National Sayed Ali Moniri (Seyed Mahmoud) and it was Sayed Ali Moniri who purchased the heroin and got the cavities made in the ship. He offered huge amounts to the Master and crew members to illegally transport the heroin. Two crew members who did not accept the offer left the ship.
5. According to Suprit Tiwari, 4 Iranians namely Ebrahim, Mustafa, Mohammad and Rasool accompanied them on the ship and they started for Sharjah and reached Dubai the next day. About 1500 kg of heroin was loaded on the ship in Gwadar Port, Pakistan and 1 Pakistani National named Khalid Mohammad also joined the accused here. However, instead of going towards Egypt, as directed by their boss, Suprit Tiwari and crew members decided to bring the ship to India and changed the name of their vessel from Prince-II to MV Hennry. Suprit Tiwari and crew members after landing in India decided to sell all the drugs and get the ship dismantled as soon as the drugs got delivered to Vishal Kumar Yadav and Irfan Sheikh who assured them to buy the entire consignment. According to Suprit Tiwari, all the non-Indian crew members, i.e. four Iranians and one Pakistani national deboarded the ship after concealment of drugs.
6. The Master and crew members destroyed the Automatic Identification System (AIS) of the ship so that it could not be traced by the owner or any other person. In his voluntary sta
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