The petitioner is before this Court calling in

question proceedings in Crime No.30 of 2021 registered

for offences punishable under Sections 25 and 3 of the

Indian Arms Act, 1959 and Sections 8(c), 20(B)(ii)(c) of

the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act,

1985 (8the Act9 for short).

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2. Brief facts leading to the filing of the present

petition, as borne out from the pleadings, are as

follows:-

On 26-05-2021 on the basis of a report submitted

by

the

2^nd

respondent/Police

alleging

that

on

25-05-2021 when they were on rounds, they received

credible information that one accused involved in a

dacoity case is on the run towards Moodabidri in a car

and they followed the said car and found the car being

driven by Mohamed Farooq. The petitioner was seated

in the car and another Eicher Truck was moving

towards Moodabidri. Both the vehicles were intercepted

and the dickey of Skoda car was searched which

resulted in unearthing of 60.60 Kgs. of Ganja. The

Eicher Truck which was also seized was searched and

such search resulted in recovery of 157 Kgs. of Ganja.

It was seized and the accused were arrested and

produced before the Police for further action. The

Special Court under the Act on 26-05-2021 remanded

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the petitioner to judicial custody. On 20-11-2021 the

Police after investigation filed a final report/charge

sheet before the Court. The petitioner, after filing of the

charge sheet before the Court, has now knocked on the

doors of this Court in the subject petition, for

quashment of entire proceedings in Crime No.30 of

2021 and seeks an interim prayer for release by grant of

interim bail.

3. Heard the learned senior counsel Sri Hashmath

Pasha

appearing

for

the

petitioner

and

Smt.K.P.Yashodha, learned High Court Government

Pleader appearing for the respondents.

4. The learned senior counsel would submit that

the petitioner is entitled to an interim bail as an interim

order and later quashment of proceedings on one

solitary ground viz., the charge sheet filed by the Police

purportedly after investigation on 20-11-2021 is a

defective charge sheet or an incomplete charge sheet, as

5

the contraband substance has been sent for its test to

the Forensic Science Laboratory and the report is yet to

come. In the absence of the report, the substance that

was seized is unidentifiable and, therefore, becomes a

defective charge sheet. The Police have hurriedly filed an

incomplete charge sheet only to get over the rigour of

default bail under Section 167(2) of the Cr.P.C. He

would submit that filing of the final report being in

violation of Section 173(2) of the Cr.P.C., the petitioner

is entitled to be released forthwith on bail. In support of

his submissions, he would place reliance upon the

judgments in the cases of:

(i) UNION OF INDIA v. BAL MUKUND AND

OTHERS

(ii) NOOR AGA v. STATE OF PUNJAB AND

ANOTHER and

(iii) CHANDRU KUNTHUR RAGHUVEGOWDA v.

STATE

BY

INSPECTOR

OF

CUSTOMS

CIU,

BENGALURU.

6

5. On the other hand, the learned High Court

Government Pleader would vehemently refute the

submissions of the learned senior counsel and submit

that mere non-filing of FSL report will not vitiate the

charge sheet that is filed, as it can always be filed in the

proceedings subsequently. Since contraband substance

being Ganja it can be easily identifiable by structure

and smell and FSL report is only a formality. She would

place reliance upon a Division Bench judgment of the

Bombay High Court in the case of MANAS KRISHNA

T.K. v. STATE and the judgment of the Apex Court in

the case of SUPERINTENDENT, NARCOTICS CONTROL

BUREAU, CHENNAI v. R.PAULSAMY¹.

6. I have given my anxious consideration to the

submissions made by the learned senior counsel and

the learned High Court Government Pleader and

1 (2000)9 SCC 549

7

perused the material on record. In furtherance whereof,

the only issue that falls for my consideration is,

<Whether the charge sheet/final report filed by the

Police on 20-11-2021 is inc