113 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: 09.03.2026 Barjinder Singh @ Batth ..... Petitioner Versus State of Punjab .......Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BHARDWAJ Present: Mr.Gurmej Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner.

Mr.Raj Karan Singh, AAG, Punjab.

Rajesh Bhardwaj, J. (ORAL)

1. Prayer in the present third petition is for grant of regular bail to the petitioner in a case FIR No.211 dated 18.09.2023, registered under Section 21 of NDPS Act, 1985 (lateron challan presented under Sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act), at Police Station Dharamkot, District Moga.

2. Succinctly facts of the case are that on 18.09.2023, the Police party while on patrolling received a secret information to the effect that Lovdeep Singh @ Luv, Barjinder Singh @ Bath (petitioner) and Nizam, are indulged in selling of heroin. It was informed that today also they are going from Jagraon to Dharamkot in their car make Mahindra Thar bearing No.PB29-Q-3800 and in case the nakabandi is laid, they could be arrested along with the contraband. On receiving the secret information, a raiding team was constituted and nakabandi was laid. A car as disclosed was seen coming and same was stopped. On asking, they disclosed their names to be Lovdeep Singh @ Luv, Barjinder Singh @ Bath and Nizam. They were suspected to be carrying some contraband in the car and, thus, search of the car was conducted. On conducting the search, 255 grams of heroin along with Rs.20,000 drug money, was recovered from the same. They failed to produce any licence regarding possession of the same and thus, the FIR was registered and all three were arrested on the spot. The investigation commenced. Samples taken were sent to the FSL. On completion of the investigation, challan was presented and on framing the charges, the trial Court proceeded with the trial. The petitioner approached the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Moga praying for grant of regular bail. However, after hearing both the sides, the learned Court finding no merit in the same, dismissed the bail application filed by the petitioner vide order dated 07.02.2024. Aggrieved by the same, petitioner earlier approached this Court by way of filing of CRM-M-10134-2024 and CRM-M-61983-2024, however, same were dismissed as withdrawn on 11.07.2024 and 01.05.2025, respectively. Hence, the petitioner has approached this Court praying for grant of regular bail by way of filing the present third petition.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner, at the outset, prays for the grant of bail to the petitioner on the basis of parity with that of the co- accused, namely, Lovedeep Singh @ Love and Nizam. He has drawn the attention of this Court, to the orders dated 20.02.2026 and 26.11.2025 passed in CRM-M-55412-2025 and CRM-M-34476-2025, respectively, whereby co-accused Lovedeep Singh @ Love and Nizam have been granted regular bail by this Court. To buttress his arguments, he submits that the petitioner has no criminal antecedents and he is behind the bars since 18.09.2023. He submits that on the basis of the parity, the petitioner deserves to be granted bail as the case of the petitioner is similar to that of the said co-accused, who have already been granted bail.

4. Learned State counsel has endorsed the factum of grant of bail to the co-accused of the petitioner as stated above and has not denied that the petitioner is at par with the co-accused, namely, Lovedeep Singh @ Love and Nizam. However, he has submitted that the contraband recovered in the present case falls under the commercial quantity and thus, provisions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, are attracted. He has placed on record the custody certificate of the petitioner.

5. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the record, it is deciphered that the petitioner was arrested in this case on 20.09.2023. Co-accused, namely, Lovedeep Singh @ Love and Nizam are on bail and the case of the petitioner as stated is at par with them.