IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: 25.08.2025 Sahil @ Shammi ....Petitioner V/s State of Punjab ....Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SUMEET GOEL Present: Mr. Raj Kumar Gupta, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Gaurav Gurcharan S. Rai, Sr. DAG Punjab.

*****

SUMEET GOEL, J. (Oral)

1. The present petition is the second attempt under Section 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter to be referred as ‘the BNSS’) for grant of pre-arrest/anticipatory bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.207 dated 19.11.2024, registered for the offences punishable under Section 15 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Mahilpur, District Hoshiarpur.

The petitioner had earlier applied for grant of pre-

arrest/anticipatory bail before this Court which was dismissed as withdrawn on 28.05.2025. The relevant part of said order reads as under:-

“This is a petition under Section 482 BNSS seeking anticipatory bail to the petitioner in FIR No.207 dated 19.11.2024 under Section 15 NDPS Act, P.S. Mahilpur, District Hoshiarpur.

After arguing for some time, learned counsel for the petitioner prays for withdrawal of the present petition.

Prayer is accepted.

Dismissed as withdrawn.”

Thereafter, the present petition i.e. the second petition for grant of anticipatory/pre-arrest bail has been preferred by the petitioner on

20.08.2025.

2. The gravamen of the FIR in question reflects that on the day of occurrence, ASI Gurnek Singh, alleged that while present at the police station, he received reliable secret information that Sahil @ Shammi (petitioner herein) had stored poppy husk in his cattle haveli for sale. The information was entered in the rojnamcha and conveyed to the senior officers. Pursuant thereto, the police party proceeded to the spot with the investigation kit. On seeing the police party, the accused-petitioner allegedly fled from the spot. An independent witness, namely Ravinder Singh (Panchayat Member) was associated and on search of the haveli premises, three black bags were recovered from beneath a haystack near the cattle feeding area. On weighing, the total contraband came to 54.892 kg of poppy husk. The bags were sealed with the seal “GS”, numbered 1 to 3 and taken into police custody vide recovery memo signed by the witnesses. The seal was thereafter handed over to ASI Balbir Singh. On the basis of aforesaid recovery, it was alleged that the accused-petitioner had committed an offence under Section 15, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act. On these set of allegations, instant FIR was registered.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has iterated that the present FIR is vitiated ab initio as it was allegedly registered on secret information received after sunset. Learned counsel has further iterated that the mandatory requirements under Section 42 of the NDPS Act have never been complied with which amounts to a case of complete non-compliance with the statutory safeguards and hence rendering the prosecution case unsustainable in law. Learned counsel has further submitted that the alleged conscious possession and identification of the petitioner is baseless and unsupported by any corroborative or incriminating evidence. In the absence of credible material, the version of the prosecution is highly doubtful. Furthermore, the police narrative that the petitioner fled on seeing the raiding party is inherently improbable. It has been further submitted that the petitioner has no connection with the alleged recovery and is not the owner of the haveli from where the contraband is alleged to have been recovered. It has been further argued that there is no need for custodial interrogation of the petitioner as nothing incriminating remains to be recovered from him. Learned counsel asserts that the petitioner has no intention of evading the process of law and undertakes to cooperate fully with the investigation. It is next submitted by the learned counsel that the petitioner is ready to join the investigation and hence no usef