224 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM-M No.22934 of 2025 Date of Decision: 08.09.2025 Amarjit Singh .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab ..... Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BHARDWAJ *****

Present :- Mr. D. S. Virk, Advocate for the petitioner.

Ms. Simran Goria, Asstt. A.G., Punjab.

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R AJESH BHARDWAJ , J. (Oral)

1. Present petition has been filed praying for the grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.67, dated 13.05.2024, under Section 15 of NDPS Act, registered at Police Station Sadar Samana, District Patiala.

2. Succinctly the facts of the case are that the police party, while on patrolling on 13.05.2024, received a secret information to the effect that Amarjit Singh (petitioner), Inder Singh and Joga Singh in connivance with each other along with 02 unidentified young persons were involved in selling of the Poppy Husk. It was informed that they were sitting under the shadow of poplar trees situated on the side lane of canal minor from village Dhanetha towards village Arai and waiting for their customers and in case of raid, they could be apprehended along with the contraband. On receiving the secret information, the raiding party was constituted and raided the place as disclosed in the secret information. However, on seeing the police party the persons, who were sitting, got perplexed and escaped leaving the contraband behind. The police recovered 60 Kg of Poppy Husk, which they left behind. On registration of the FIR, the investigation commenced. Being aggrieved, the petitioner approached this Court praying for the grant of anticipatory bail by way of filing CRM-M-48610- 2024, which was granted by this court vide order dated 27.09.2024, however the petitioner was arrested in some other case, hence, the petition was allowed to be dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 16.01.2025. The petitioner was arrested in this case on 22.12.2024. He approached the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Patiala praying for grant of bail, however, after hearing both the sides and finding no merit in the same, the learned Judge, Special Court, Patiala declined the bail application filed by the petitioner vide order dated 16.04.2025. Hence being aggrieved, the petitioner is before this Court praying for the grant of bail by way of filing the present petition.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has vehemently contended that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. He has submitted that admittedly the FIR in the present case is registered on the basis of secret information but there is a violation of mandatory provisions of Sections 42 of NDPS Act. He has submitted that this Court had granted interim bail to the petitioner vide order dated 27.09.2024, however as the petitioner was arrested in another FIR, hence the petition filed by the petitioner was allowed to be dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 16.01.2025. He has submitted that even otherwise the recovery effected is

60 Kg of Poppy Husk, whereas the commercial quantity is above 50 Kg. He has submitted that the petitioner is behind bars since the date of his arrest, i.e. 22.12.2024, however there is no progress in the trial. He has submitted that though the petitioner is involved in 03 other cases, however he is on bail in those cases. He has further submitted that the co-accused of the petitioner, namely, Joga Singh and Inderjit Singh @ Inder have already been granted anticipatory bail by this Court vide orders dated 19.11.2024 and 08.01.2025, respectively, passed in CRM-M-30603-2024 and CRM-M-33914-2024. He has submitted that in the facts and circumstances, the petitioner deserves to be granted regular bail.

4. Per contra, learned State counsel has opposed the submissions made by counsel for the petitioner. She has submitted that the recovery effected from the petitioner and the co-accused was 60 Kg of Poppy Husk, which is a commercial quantity and thus, the provisions of Section 37 of NDPS A