ORDER

Heard Sri. G. Muralidhara, learned counsel for the petitioner and Smt. Manasi Kumar, learned Counsel for the respondent-Union of India, Narcotics Central Bureau and perused the records.

2. Present petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C. with the following prayer:

“WHEREFORE, the petitioner above named respectfully prays that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to release him on bail in NCB No.481/19/2021 BZU, now Spl.C.C.No.834/2022 on the file of XXXIII Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bangalore for offences punishable under Section 8C, 20(b), ii C, 23, 25, 27, 27A, 28 and 29 of NDPS Act in the interest of justice and equity.”

3. The brief facts of the case are as under:

Information report as is contemplated under Section

42 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as ' NDPS Act ' for short) was lodged with the Special Court. The report contained materials which would prima facie show that the suspected persons by name Ramdhin Yadav, Aslam, Kamalesh Kumar, Ramlal Sharif, Abdul Razak, Rasheed, Khalander used to purchase ganja from the petitioner herein and they were selling the same in the market for the prospective customers. The authorized officer made a preliminary enquiry and issued notice to the suspected persons including the petitioner herein. The petitioner did appear before the Narcotics Central Bureau on

03.10.2021.

4. After preliminary examination of the petitioner, he was arrested by the authorized officer and his voluntary statement has been recorded. The voluntary statement so recorded is tallying with the information collected by the NCB officer and he was produced before the Special Court. The Special Court in turn remanded the petitioner to the judicial custody.

5. The attempt made by the petitioner in obtaining an order of grant of bail is turned down by the XXXIII Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge and Special Judge (NDPS), Bengaluru (CCH.33) in Crl.Misc.No.3930/2022 by order dated 20.05.2022. Thereafter, the petitioner is before this Court.

6. Sri.G.Muralidhara, learned counsel for the petitioner has sought for grant of bail on the following grounds:

“6. The Petitioner submits that he is innocent of the allegations made against him, he has been falsely implicated in this case at the instance of his ill-willers

7. The Petitioner submits that there is no prima facie case against him for the reason that admittedly no contraband substance has either been recovered from him or seized at his instance and there is no evidence to the extent that he has supplied ganja to the Accused Nos. 1 and 2.

8. The Petitioner submits that the allegations against him are too remote to be believed and he has got a valid defence.

9. The Petitioner submits that he is a law abiding citizen making his livelihood as licensed electrical contractor, certificate of registration issued by the Labour Department, Government of Telangana is herewith produced, vide Annexure-J. He is also an Income Tax Assessee, an attested copy of one of the Income Tax Returns is herewith produced, vide Annexure-K.

10. The Petitioner submits that the Accused Nos.5, 7 and 6 are granted bail by this Hon'ble High Court in Crl.Petition No.8542/2022, Crl.Petition No.3278/2022 and 4578/2022, certified copies of the order passed on the said Petitions are herewith produced, vide Annexure-L, Annexures-M & N respectively.

11. The Petitioner submits that the alleged offences are not punished with death or with imprisonment for life.

12. The Petitioner submits that he has got a permanent place of residence, he undertakes to abide by any conditions which this Hon'ble Court may impose.

13. The Petitioner submits that he is in judicial custody from 04-10-2021 in so far one year and four months has passed, his continued detention in jail is adversely affecting his physical ad mental health, he has got his wife, children and aged mother who are depending on him for their livelihood, but since the Petitioner is in custody,