Insufficient evidence and procedural non-compliance lead to granting bail in drug-related conviction.

CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRAVEEN KUMAR ORAL ORDER (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD)

7 19-01-2026 Heard learned counsel for the appellant and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.

2. Records have been placed before this Court to consider the prayer of the appellant for suspension of his sentence and release on bail during pendency of the appeal.

3. The appellant has been convicted vide judgment dated 19.03.2021 and sentenced vide order dated 22.03.2021 by learned Additional District & Sessions Judge-XIII, Rohtas at Sasaram in NDPS Case No. 02 of 2019 arising out of Shivsagar P.S. Case No. 05 of 2019 for the offence under Section 20 (II)(C) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (in short ‘NDPS Act’) and has been ordered to undergo fifteen years rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.1,00,000/- and in case of default of payment of fine, he has to further undergo imprisonment for four months.

4. The prosecution case is based on the self-statement of S.H.O. Lakshmi Narayan Sudhanshu who has stated as under:-

On 04.10.2019 at 06:35 Hours, he got a secret information that one silver colour Honda City car bearing Registration No. DL1CJ0179 coming from Dehri side is carrying ganja and the same is being illegally transported to Kaimur via G.T. Road. The informant registered a sanha regarding this information, informed his senior police officer and he along with some other police personnel left the police station. On way, the Circle Officer, Shivsagar, namely, Alok Kumar also joined them. They reached G.T. Road near the Toll Plaza, Shivsagar at about 06:50 Hours and started checking vehicles. They saw the silver coloured Honda City coming from Dehri side which they signaled to stop but on seeing the police personnel, the driver tried to escape. However, they were chased and apprehended. While checking the vehicle, they found that two persons, namely, Surendra Rai and Rajesh Singh (the appellant) were present on the vehicle. The vehicle was searched in presence of two independent witnesses and from the dickey of the vehicle, total 56 packets of ganja total weighing 71.5 kg were recovered.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that according to the prosecution case, this appellant was found sitting in the vehicle from which the ganja were recovered, however, in course of the physical search of the appellant, nothing incriminating was found from his possession. The Investigating Officer could not verify the ownership of the vehicle in course of investigation.

6. Learned counsel further submits that the seizure is said to have taken place in presence of independent witness Bailister Singh (PW-4) who has though identified his signature on the seizure list but did not identify the accused persons, therefore, the prosecution has declared him hostile.

7. It is further submitted that the I.O. filed an application in the court of learned Sessions Judge on 05.01.2019 for deputing a Magistrate for collection of sample from the seized material exhibits and the learned court directed the C.O., Shivsagar to collect the sample, however, the informant who has been examined as PW-7 in course of trial has stated in paragraph ‘24’ of his deposition that there is no mention of date, case number, time and there is no signature of a Presiding Officer or seal on the seized exhibits.

8. Learned counsel has further pointed out that on perusal of the prosecution evidence, it would appear that in this case, there is no compliance with the mandatory requirement under sub-section (3) of Section 52A of the NDPS Act. 9. It is lastly submitted that this appellant has no criminal antecedent and in the present case, he has already remained in incarceration for a little more than seven years. This appeal is of the year 2022 and in normal course, it is not likely to be heard in near future.

10. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State has opposed the prayer