The petitioner has filed the present petition seeking regular bail in FAO No.132 of 2025 dated 1st December, 2025, registered at Police Station, Theog, District Shimla, for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 21 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

2. It has been asserted that, as per the prosecution, the petitioner was found in possession of 26.030 gms of heroin. The police arrested the petitioner, and he is in judicial custody. The petitioner is 20 years old. He has passed the class 12th examination, and he is to be enrolled for graduation. His continued detention will adversely affect his studies. The petitioner does not have any criminal antecedents. The police have filed the charge-sheet, and no fruitful purpose would be served by detaining the petitioner in custody. Hence the petition.

3. The petition is opposed by filing a status report asserting that the police were on patrolling duty on 1st December, 2025. They received secret information at 8:15 PM that a vehicle bearing registration No. HP-09C-6562 was parked near the liquor store on Theog bypass. Rajan Dogra and Ayush (the present petitioner) were sitting in the vehicle with a huge quantity of heroin, which could be recovered by searching the vehicle. The information was credible, and the delay in procuring the search warrant would have led to the destruction of the case property. Hence, a rukka was prepared and was sent to the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO). The police proceeded towards the liquor store. They met Akhil Verma on the way and joined him as a witness. The Police went towards the liquor store and found the vehicle bearing registration No. HP-09C-6562 parked on the roadside. Two people were sitting inside the vehicle. The driver revealed his name as Rajan Dogra, and the person sitting in the front seat revealed his name as Ayush (the petitioner). The search of the vehicle was conducted after completing the formalities, and the Police recovered one polythene packet and one weighing machine kept on the dashboard. The police checked the polythene packet and found 26.030 grams of heroin in it. The Police seized the heroin and the digital weighing machine and arrested the occupants of the vehicle. The heroin was sent to the FSL for analysis. The Police filed the charge sheet before the Court on 30th January, 2026. No other FIR was registered against the petitioner. The mobile phones of the petitioner and the co-accused were sent to the FSL, and the results have been received. The supplementary charge-sheet would be filed before the Court after the analysis of the report. The matter is listed before the learned Trial Court on 27th April, 2026, for the service.

4. I have heard Mr Abhimanyu Thakur, Learned Counsel for the Petitioner, and Mr Lokender Kutlehria, Learned Additional Advocate General for the Respondent/State.

5. Mr Abhimanyu Thakur, learned counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner is innocent and he was falsely implicated. There is no material to connect him to the heroin recovered by the Police. The petitioner is the first offender and is aged 20 years. He has to take admission in the college, and his future would be spoiled by detaining him in custody. Hence, he prayed that the present petition be allowed and the petitioner be released on bail

6. Mr Lokender Kutlehria, learned Additional Advocate General for the respondent/State, submitted that the petitioner was found present in the vehicle from which the recovery of heroin and a digital weighing machine was effected. The heroin is adversely affecting society, and releasing the petitioner on bail would encourage him to commit similar offences in future. Hence, he prayed that the present petition be dismissed.

7. I have given a considerable thought to the submissions made at the bar and have gone through the records carefully.

8. The parameters for granting bail were considered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Pinki v. St