The inadmissibility of certain statements made to a police officer and the requirement of foundational material to establish the accused's involvement in the offences.

JUDGMENT

Anup Jairam Bhambhani J. By way of the present petition under section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (`Cr.P.C.') read with section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (`NDPS Act'), the petitioner seeks regular bail in proceedings arising from complaint case bearing SC No. 81/2019 titled `NCB vs. Gaurav Mehta & Ors.' under sections 21/23 and 29 of the NDPS Act pending before the learned Special Judge, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi.

2. The matter arises from a complaint bearing No. NCB/24/DZU/2018 filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (`NCB') under sections 8(c), 21(c), 23 and 29 of the NDPS Act alleging that based on certain secret information, the petitioner and two co-accused persons, by name Gaurav Mehta and Bhasker Khatnani, were suspected of engaging in the sale and purchase of psychotropic tablets.

3. A brief conspectus of the allegations leading-up to the filing of the present bail petition is as follows:

3.1. According to the NCB, on 16.08.2018, secret information was received by the Superintendent, NCB that certain parcels lying at the office of DHL Express Pvt. Ltd, Kirti Nagar, New Delhi (`DHL Office') contained commercial quantities of psychotropic tablets, which were being couriered by one Gaurav Mehta. Pursuant to this information, on 17.08.2018 at about 9:00 a.m. a team of NCB Officers went to the DHL Office and conducted search and seizure proceedings in relation to 02 parcels found there. The 02 parcels were both being shipped by one `Desi Global E-mart' in New Delhi to certain locations in the United State of America and Canada. The parcels seized contained pharmaceutical preparations which fall within the list of contraband in the Schedule to the NDPS Act;

3.2. Thereafter, on the same day, upon Gaurav Mehta's verbal disclosure, a team of NCB Officers went to the residence of Bhasker Khatnani in Gurgaon; and on searching the house, more psychotropic tablets were found;

3.3. Furthermore, it is the NCB's case that Bhasker Khatnani disclosed to them that on that day the petitioner i.e. Manish Mohan was sending to him parcels which were to be received at Gate No.2 of Laxmi Nagar metro station between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Based on this information, the NCB set-up surveillance at Laxmi Nagar metro station, where at around 8:50 p.m. two men carrying 02 parcels came and stood near Gate No. 2 of the metro station. Upon enquiry by the Investigating Officer, NCB ('I.O.') the two men stated that one Manish Mohan from Vinay Medical Store had given them the parcels to hand-over to a person at the metro station, whose location was to be revealed to them over the phone. The I.O. offered that the two men should become independent witnesses to the search and seizure, which, the NCB says, they agreed to;

3.4. According to the NCB, the parcels were addressed to one K.K. Pharma Solutions in Mumbai, and contained 2000 strips of Hydrocodone tablets, 168 strips of Lorazepam tablets, 1000 strips of Phentermine K-25 tablets and 300 strips of Zolpidem tablets, which were all seized;

3. 5. Thereafter, a notice under section 67 of the NDPS Act was issued to the petitioner to appear before the NCB; which he did on 18.08.2018; whereupon his statement was recorded and he was consequently arrested.

4. The court has heard Ms. Tanya Aggarwal, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Mr. Raghav Bansal, learned counsel for the NCB.

5. Ms. Aggarwal submits, that the petitioner is not involved in the matter and his arrest was unfounded, hasty and bad in law, inter-alia for the following reasons:

5.1. It is clear from the narrative sought to be propounded by the NCB, that the petitioner was not named in the so-called secret information provided to them on 16.08.2018, basis which the complaint came to be made and the co-accused were indicted;

5.2. It is evident that the petitioner has no connection with the recoveries alleged to have been made on 17.08.2018 viz. the parcels recovered at t