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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment reserved on: 27.02.2026 Judgment pronounced on: 11.03.2026 Judgment uploaded on: 13.03.2026 + BAIL APPLN. 44/2026 AJEET PARTAP SINGH .....Petitioner Through: Mr.J.S. Thakur and Mr.Ketan Antil, Advs.

versus THE STATE (NCT OF DELHI) .....Respondent Through: Mr. Manoj Pant, APP for the State.

CORAM:

HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE SWARANA KANTA SHARMA

JUDGMENT

DR. SWARANA KANTA SHARMA, J

1. By way of the present application, the applicant is seeking grant of regular bail in case arising out of FIR bearing no. 127/2025, registered at Police Station Delhi Cantt, Delhi, for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 22/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 [hereafter ‘NDPS Act’] and Sections 7/20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003

2. Briefly stated, the facts of the present case are that on 12.05.2025, acting upon secret information regarding illegal storage and supply of banned narcotic drugs and trade of prohibited imported cigarettes being conducted under the garb of a courier business by one Sanjay, the the Anti-Narcotics Task Force had conducted a raid at the premises in question i.e. Ground floor of House No. 8/128, Village West Mehram Nagar, New Delhi. The landlord Deepak Kumar had informed the raiding team that he had rented the ground floor to Sanjay and Joginder about 40-45 days ago for carrying out courier business. Co-accused Sanjay Kumar was apprehended from the said premises, and upon search of a godown, a substantial quantity of prohibited cigarettes and restricted medicines was recovered, including 66.6 grams of Alprazolam and 164.9 grams of Zolpidem. As he failed to produce any valid licence or supporting documents, the present FIR was registered and he was arrested. During the course of investigation, the co-accused Sanjay allegedly revealed that he and his partner Joginder had many contacts in the medical field. During further investigation, the manufacturer of the recovered medicines was identified as M/s Digital Vision, which informed the investigating agency that the concerned batches had been sold to two firms in Uttar Pradesh, namely Chandra Pharma, situated at Balrampur and Hanumant Pharma, situated at Gonda. The proprietors of both these firms i.e. Manu Agarwal of Hanumant Pharma, and present applicant Ajeet Pratap Singh of Chandra Pharma. The applicant Ajeet allegedly disclosed that he had been induced by Manu Agarwal to engage in wholesale dealings of NRX medicines without bills for higher profits, and both of them also disclosed that they used to procure such medicines in bulk and supply them without documentation to persons in Delhi, knowing that they would be exported abroad through courier channels. Further investigation revealed that since March 2024, the applicant had allegedly been dispatching NRX medicines without maintaining records. The charge-sheet has since been filed, the case property sent to FSL, and the forensic report is awaited.

3. The learned counsel appearing for the applicant argues that the applicant was not named in the FIR registered on 13.05.2025 and was implicated only during further investigation on the basis of enquiry regarding certain medicine batches. It is contended that his inability to produce stock registers or sale-purchase bills cannot, by itself, establish his role in the criminal conspiracy. The applicant has been charged under Section 29 of the NDPS Act, and it is argued that the rigours of Section 37 are not attracted in the present case since there is no recovery from him. It is further submitted that reliance on statements under Section 67 of the NDPS Act is legally untenable in view of settled law. The learned counsel submits that the investigation is complete and the charge-sheet has been filed; therefore, no custodial interrogation of the applicant is required, and