ORDER

1. This Criminal Revision Case raises a narrow, yet constitutionally significant, question touching the liberty of two accused persons who stand implicated in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The allegation is grave; the quantity alleged is commercial; the rigour of the NDPS Act is undoubtedly stern. Yet, even in prosecutions under special penal statutes, the command of procedure cannot be reduced to a matter of convenience. Where the statute fixes a maximum permissible period of investigative custody, liberty cannot be made to wait upon administrative explanations, filing ambiguities or post facto justifications.

2. The petitioners challenge the order dated 24.09.2025 passed in Cr.M.P.No.2826 of 2025 by the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge / Presiding Officer, Special Court for EC and NDPS Act Cases, Pudukottai, dismissing their petition for statutory bail under Section 187(3)(ii) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, corresponding to Section 167(2) Cr.P.C.

Case of the Prosecution:

3. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 24.03.2025, on receipt of secret information that ganja was being transported in a Tata