Reserved On : 28/01/2025 Pronounced On : 04/02/2025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR REGULAR BAIL - AFTER CHARGESHEET) NO. 348 of 2025 FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:

HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DIVYESH A. JOSHI Sd/-

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Approved for Reporting Yes No No ==========================================================

PRAGNESH PRAVINBHAI THUMMAR Versus STATE OF GUJARAT ==========================================================

Appearance:

MR. KISHAN H DAIYA(6929) for the Applicant(s) No. 1 MR. SOHAM JOSHI, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1 ==========================================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DIVYESH A. JOSHI

CAV JUDGMENT

1. Rule returnable forthwith. Learned APP waives service of notice of rule for and on behalf of the respondent-State.

2. The present successive application is filed under Section 483 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, for regular bail in connection with the FIR being C.R. No.11210015200082 of 2020 registered with the D.C.B. Police Station, Surat of the offence punishable under Sections 8(C), 22(C ) and 29 of the NDPS Act.

3. The brief facts leading to the filing of the present application are that police official of the D.C.B. Police Station received a tip-off that the accused, namely, Salman @ Aman Mohammed Hanif Zaveri, a resident of Surat is transporting the Narcotic Substance in his car and would be passing from Kuvada Tea point to Surat City for selling the said Narcotic substance and upon that information, the necessary procedure had been carried out, and raid was conducted and one accused, namely, Salman was caught by the police along with the contraband substance Mephedrone worth 1011.82 grams, and after following due procedure in accordance with law, the FIR came to be filed.

4. Mr. Kishan Daiya, learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that the applicant-accused was arrested on 18.10.2020 and since then he is in jail. Learned advocate Mr. Daiya for the applicant has also submitted that the investigation has already been completed and charge-sheet has also been filed. He has further submitted that the applicant-accused has not been named in the FIR, and he has been falsely implicated in the present offence on the basis of the statement made by the co-accused during the course of investigation. Learned advocate Mr. Daiya has also submitted that, in fact, the charge-sheet has been filed against in all total 19 persons, out of which, eight persons, having similar or graver role than that of the applicant-accused, have already been enlarged on bail. He has submitted that the contraband substance was not found from the conscious possession of the applicant-accused and he was not caught red-handed on the spot along with the contraband substance. Learned advocate Mr. Daiya has further submitted that there are in all total six supplementary charge-sheets have been filed in the present case, and total 196 persons have been cited as witnesses, and all those cases have been ordered to be consolidated and heard together, which is indicative of the fact that the trial would take considerable long period of time to conclude, and keeping the applicant-accused behind the bar for such an indefinite period of time, would be nothing but a pre-trial conviction. The applicant accused came to be arrested on 18.10.2020 and since then he is in jail, i.e., for more than four years, and considering the period of incarceration already undergone by the applicant-accused, he is entitled to be released on bail. Moreover, there is no recovery or discovery at the instance of the applicant-accused. He has submitted that the applicant-accused is an educated man, having completed the study in Pharmacy with gold medal, having a bright future in pharmacy industry. In such circumstances, referred to above, learned advocate Mr. Daiya prays that there being merit in this application, the same may be allowed and the app