IMPORTANT POINT
The admissibility of recoveries made based on an accused person's disclosures, compliance with procedural requirements under the NDPS Act, and the relevance of electronic evidence such as WhatsApp chats were central to the court's decision.

JUDGMENT

1. The present application has been filed seeking grant of regular bail in Crime No. VIII/25/DZU/2019 under Sections 8/22(c)/23/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act). The applicant has been in judicial custody since 8th April, 2021.

2. The brief facts of the case, as set up by the prosecution are as follows:

2.1 On 6th July, 2019, on receipt of information, the Narcotics Control Bureau (hereinafter "NCB") Team reached DTDC Express Limited Courier Company, New Delhi, where one parcel was found in the name of one Mr. Sudhir Shrivastava, Lucknow to one Mr. Amar Shrivastava, Lynchemburg, USA, which was opened and was found containing, inter alia, 500 strips of 10 tablets each of Alprazolam. Therefore, a total of 5000 tablets of Alprazolam were found.

2.2 Out of the recovered tablets, one strip of 10 tablets was opened and upon weighing the tablets, the weight of 10 tablets was found to be 2 grams. Therefore, total weight of the 5000 tablets of Alprazolam was ascertained to be 1 kg, which constitutes commercial quantity (commercial quantity of Alprazolam being 100 grams).

2.3 Upon investigation from the manufacturer of the medicines, it was found that the medicines were sold to M/s SS Medicos in District Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. It was revealed that one Mr. Bhanu Pratap Singh was in charge of the affairs of M/s SS Medicos. Accordingly, Bhanu Pratap Singh was served with notice under Section 67 of the NDPS Act, who tendered his voluntary statement and disclosed that he had sold 20,000 tablets of Alprazolam to one Manish Gupta. Consequently, Bhanu Pratap Singh was arrested on 5th December, 2020.

2.4 Subsequently, upon notices under Section 67 of the NDPS Act being issued to the aforesaid Manish Gupta, he tendered his voluntary statement wherein he stated that out of the 20,000 tablets that he had purchased from Bhanu Pratap Singh, he had booked 5,000 tablets which were seized from DTDC, New Delhi and the remaining 15,000 tablets were sold to one Somdutt Singh. Manish Gupta also endorsed print outs of his conversations with Somdutt Singh and disclosed his involvement in the illegal trade in psychotropic substances. Consequently, Manish Gupta was arrested on 5th April, 2021.

2.5 Upon further investigation, Somdutt Singh was served with a notice under Section 67 of the NDPS Act, in pursuance of which he tendered his voluntary statement on 7th April, 2021, wherein he disclosed that a huge quantity of psychotropic substances was lying at his rented apartment situated at F4-19, 4th Floor, Pocket-2, Sector-2, Narela, Delhi (hereinafter 'Narela Flat'). On 7th April, 2021, the NCB team, accompanied by the applicant Somdutt Singh reached the aforesaid apartment and upon search of the same recovered 12,250 Tramadol tablets, 1500 Zolpidem Tablets, 400 Diazepam Tablets, 1.286 kg loose Alprazolam tablets and 2000 Clonazepam tablets, which constitute commercial quantity.

2.6 On 8th April, 2021, Somdutt Singh disclosed that he used to send parcels containing psychotropic substances abroad through different post offices by using fake IDs provided by one Arun @ Varun and Manish Gupta. He also disclosed that 16-17 parcels to USA were already booked with Rohini Sector-7 Post Office and messages regarding the details of the same were forwarded to Arun @ Varun. Consequently, 17 parcels were seized by the NCB at Foreign Post Office, ITO containing huge quantities of various psychotropic substances. Subsequent to these recoveries, Somdutt Singh was arrested on 8th April, 2021.

2.7 Further, at the instance of Somdutt Singh, tracking IDs and photographs of various parcels booked were recovered from his mobile phone. Consequently, on 21st September, 2021, 9 parcels were seized from the Foreign Post Office, ITO and commercial quantities of psychotropic substances were recovered.

3. The applicant Somdutt Singh had moved an application before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, NDPS, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi which was d