Prima facie non-compliance of the second proviso to Section 42(1) of the NDPS Act and the period of incarceration were the main legal points established in the given judgment.

JUDGMENT

Amit Sharma, J.

1. This is the second application under Section 439 read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (=CrPC') seeking regular bail in case FIR No. 218/2018, dated 29.08.2018 under Sections 22(c) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (=NDPS Act') and Sections 63 and 65 of the Copyright Act, 1957 registered at PS Crime Branch. The first application for bail filed on behalf of the present applicant (BAIL APPLN. 1099/2020) was dismissed by a coordinate bench of this Court vide order dated 24.11.2020. The said order was challenged before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the same was dismissed vide order dated 15.03.2021 passed in Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 554/2021 titled 'Nagesh Sharma v. State of NCT of Delhi'.

2. Briefly stated, the facts of the present case are as under:

i. On 20.08.2018, secret information was received at about 04:00 PM at the office of the Crime Branch that one Sunil Sharma alongwith his associates - Rajesh and Nagesh (the present applicant) were involved in illegally supplying 'Tramadol' to Kolkata and other parts of North-East India. Information was received that Sunil Sharma, Rajesh and Nagesh would arrive at a spot near the Minto Road Bus Stop, Bhavbhooti Marg, New Delhi with consignments of Tramadol in two separate cars and that Sunil Sharma would further handover these consignments to a man for sending them to Kolkata.

ii. Acting on the said information, a team of police personnel reached the above spot and at about 07:45 PM spotted an Elantra car bearing registration number DL 7C P 0927, being driven by Sunil Sharma. He stepped out of the car and waited for some time. After 10 minutes, a Tata Indica car bearing registration number UP 14 BR 2362, being driven by Rajesh with Nagesh in the passenger seat arrived at the spot. Rajesh took one parcel out of his car, which Nagesh handed over to Sunil who put it in the trunk of his car. Rajesh took another parcel out and handed over the same to Sunil, at which time the raiding team apprehended all three of them at about 08:00 PM.

iii. Upon a search of the Elantra car bearing registration number DL 7C P 0927, 156 boxes of Spasmo Proxyvon Plus capsule were recovered. From the search of Red colour Tata Indica car bearing registration number UP 14 BR 2362,112 boxes of Spasmo Proxyvon Plus capsule were recovered. From the personal search of Nagesh Sharma, one white coloured parcel containing 56 boxes of Spasmo Proxyvon Plus capsule was recovered. Each of these boxes contained 18 strips of 8 capsules each. Each of these were hard gelatin capsules containing Dicyclomine Hydrochloride I.P. 10 mg, Tramadol Hydrochloride I.P. 50 mg and Acelaminophen 325 mg.

iv. Out of the materials recovered, samples were drawn and seized and the present FIR was registered.

v. During investigation, the accused persons were interrogated and they admitted to their involvement in the alleged offences. It was also revealed that a part of the recovered Spasmo Proxyvon Plus capsules were procured by them through black marketing channels and part of it was manufactured by them at a factory, set up in Ghaziabad.

vi. During investigation, it was discovered that Sunil Sharma was the mastermind behind the entire racket that dealt in illegal drugs. He financed the illegal drug business. Sunil Sharma was also involved in illegally supplying Buprenorphone injections to his contacts in various states. Based on his disclosure, 1.68 lakh ampoules of Buprenorphine injection were recovered from two courier companies - Madhur Courier and Om Logistic.

vii. Sunil Sharma disclosed that his associate and proprietor of M/s Banti Pharma - Vineet Garg had booked a consignment of 9000 ampoules of Buprenorphine injections to their contacts in Bikramganj, Bihar. Accordingly, on 03.09.2018, the said consignment was intercepted and a representative of Madhur Courier presented 6 parcels of Buprenorphine injections containing 18,000 ampoules, out of which