ORDER :

Heard Mr. N.N.B. Choudhury, learned counsel for the accused-petitioner and Mr. K.K. Parasar, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State of Assam.

2. By this application under Section 439, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC], the accused-petitioner viz. Md. Sahibuddin Kazi @ Md. Sihabuddin Kazi @ Md. Shabuddin has prayed for his release on bail in connection with NDPS Case no. 36/2021, arising out of Gorchuk Police Station Case no. 751/2020, registered for offences registered under Sections 21[c]/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances [NDPS] Act, 1985, & G.R. Case no. 16181/2020, presently pending before the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge no. 2, Kamrup [Metro], Guwahati [‘the Special Court’, for short].

3. The crime case, Gorchuk Police Station Case no. 751/2020 came to be registered on the basis of a First Information Report [FIR] lodged by one Mukutar Rahman, In-Charge, ISBT Police Out Post on 22.12.2020, pursuant to a General Diary Entry no. 427 dated 22.12.2020 registered at the ISBT Police Out Post. As per the FIR, the informant received a confidential input from the Crime Branch staff, Guwahati to the effect that illegal paddling/transportation of drugs was going on in the campus of the Inter-State Bus Terminus [ISBT] via buses coming from various States. On receipt of such information, the informant along with staff and the Officer In-Charge, Gorchuk Police Station, etc. conducted a search operation in the buses, coming from various destinations, parked within the ISBT complex. The informant had alleged that during such search operation, one suspected bus passenger viz. Md. Sahibuddin Kazi i.e. the accused-petitioner was found carrying a bag inside a bus bearing registration no. AS-10/C-6456, which came from Karimganj and was found parked at Bay no. 24 within the ISBT complex. When the accused-petitioner was searched, 30 nos. of soap cases of different colours were allegedly recovered from inside a bag. The 30 soap cases were found containing plastic packets/polythene with powdery substances, suspected to be drugs. As the bus driver also could not give any satisfactory reply, sufficient doubt was created and the bus driver was also apprehended, apart from the accused-petitioner. The higher police official was called to the spot and the informant was issued a authority letter to seize and draw samples from the suspected contraband substances. A digital machine was brought to the place and the said 30 packets containing suspected contraband were weighed. On weighment, the total weight was found to be 400 grams. The packets and the bus were seized by preparing a seizure list. The informant had further stated that two sample packets [one original & one duplicate] of 5 [five] grams each were drawn at the place of occurrence in presence of witnesses and the apprehended persons viz. [i] the accused-petitioner, and [ii] Md. Suwail Ahmed [bud driver]. The two sample packets were sealed for forwarding it to the Forensic Science Laboratory [FSL] for chemical analysis.

4. On receipt of the said FIR, the Officer In-Charge, Gorchuk Police Station registered the same as Gorchuk Police Station Case no. 751/2020 under Sections 21[c]/29 of the NDPS Act on 22.10.2020. The accused-petitioner and Md. Suwail Ahmed after being apprehended, were produced before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup [M], Guwahati on 23.12.2020. On being so produced, the learned Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup [M], Guwahati remanded the two accused persons including the accused-petitioner, to judicial custody.

5. Thus, the accused-petitioner is in custody since 23.12.2020 and as on date, the accused-petitioner has spent more than 990 days in custody.

6. In the course of investigation, the results of chemical analysis in respect of the two samples were received from the Forensic Science Laboratory [FSL], Assam, Guwahati. As per the FSL Report, when the two sample packets were examined, they gave p