HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 889 of 2026 Ajay Kumar Pandey .....Applicant(s)

Versus State of U.P. .....Opposite Party(s)

Counsel for Applicant(s) : Gaurang Dwivedi, Vimlendu Tripathi Counsel for Opposite Party(s) : G.A.

Court No. - 70 HON'BLE SANTOSH RAI, J.

1. Heard learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Purushottam Maurya, learned counsel for the State-respondent and perused the record.

2. This bail application has been moved on behalf of accused-applicant Ajay Kumar Pandey @ Annu Maharaj @ Pandey Jee seeking enlargement on bail in Case Crime No.127 of 2025, under Sections 27A N.D.P.S. Act, Police Station Kadaura, District Jalaun.

3. Tersely, as per the allegation contained in the FIR two accused persons were spot arrested from whose possession 56 Kg 268 gram of contraband ganja, which was kept in Toyota Etios bearing registration no.CG10EL5400, was recovered and on their confessional statement name of applicant was surfaced.

4. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the accused-applicant has not committed any offence as alleged in the FIR and has been falsely implicated in this case. Applicant is languishing in jail since 16.12.2025. It is submitted that as per the FIR 56 Kg 268 gram of contraband ganja, which was kept in Toyota Etios bearing registration no.CG10EL5400, was said to be recovered from the joint possession of co-accused persons, Divyanshu Vyas and Shiva Tiwari @ Parth Tiwari and name of applicant was surfaced on the basis of confessional statement of co-accused persons. It is further submitted neither any conscious possession of contraband ganja was shown from the possession of applicant nor any mandatory provisions of Sections 42, 50, 52A, 57 of the N.D.P.S. Act has been complied with by the competent authority in this case. It is argued that no independent and reliable witness was present at the time of preparation of recovery memo. It is further argued that applicant has no criminal antecedents to his credit. It is lastly submitted that since charge-sheet has already been submitted, therefore, there is no reasonable possibility of intimidating or pressurizing the prosecution witnesses. Submission is that the conclusion of trial will take sufficiently long and there is no likelihood of his fleeing from course of justice or tampering with evidence in case of release on bail. Hence, bail has been prayed for.

5. Learned AGA has vehemently opposed the submission of the accused applicant and submits that 56 Kg 268 gram of ganja, which is above the commercial quantity, was recovered from the conscious possession of the two co-accused persons, who assigned the role and involvement of applicant in their confessional statement. It is submitted that the provisions of Section 50 of the N.D.P.S. Act has been duly complied with by the authority in this case. It is argued that, in case the applicant is released on bail, he may again indulge in similar activities and misuse the liberty of bail.

6. Rule 9 and 10 of Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue)

Notification New Delhi, the 23rd December, 2022 reads as under:-

"9. Samples to be drawn in the presence of Magistrate - After application to the Magistrate under sub-section (2) of section 52A of the Act is made, the Investigating Officer shall ensure that samples of the seized material are drawn in the presence of the Magistrate and the same is certified by the magistrate in accordance with the provisions of the said-sub-section.

10. Drawing the samples - (1) One sample, in duplicate, shall be drawn from each package and container seized.

(2)When the packages and containers seized together are of identical size and weight bearing identical marking and the contents of each package give identical results on colour test by the drugs identification kit, conclusively indicating that the packages are identical in all respects, the packages and containers may carefully be bunched in lots of not more than ten packages or containers,