274 THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM-M No.66721 of 2025 Date of Decision: 03.12.2025 Naib Singh ..... Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ..... Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BHARDWAJ ***

Present: Mr. Jashandeep Singh Sandhu, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Raj Karan Singh, Asstt. A.G., Punjab.

***

RAJESH BHARDWAJ, J. (ORAL)

1. Present second petition has been filed praying for the grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.137, dated 24.07.2023, under Section 21, 25 of NDPS Act (Section 29 of NDPS Act added later on), registered at Police Station Sidhwan Bet, District Ludhiana Rural, Ludhiana, Punjab.

2. Succinctly the facts of the case are that the police party, while on patrolling on 24.07.2023, received a secret information to the effect that Surinder Singh and Naib Singh (petitioner) were involved in selling of heroin. It was informed that they were coming from Gagkalan to Sidhwan Bet for selling the heroin on their Apache Motorcycle bearing registration No.PB-08-DT-9155 and in case of barricading, they could be apprehended along with the contraband. On receiving the secret information, the raiding party was constituted and the barricading was laid at the place as disclosed in the secret information. A motorcycle, as disclosed, was seen coming on which 2 persons were riding. However, on suspicion, they were apprehended and on asking, driver of the motorcycle disclosed his name to be Surinder Singh whereas the person riding pillion, disclosed his name to be Naib Singh (petitioner) and he was holding a carrot coloured bag. They were suspected to be carrying some contraband and thus, their search was conducted. On conducting the search of the bag being carried by Naib Singh (petitioner), 3 Kgs of heroin was recovered. They failed to produce any licence regarding the conscious possession of the same and thus, the FIR was registered and both were arrested on the spot. On registration of the FIR, the investigation commenced. The samples taken were sent to the FSL and on receipt of FSL report, the challan was presented and on framing of charges, the trial commenced. The petitioner approached the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Ludhiana praying for the grant of bail, however after hearing both the sides and finding no merit in the same, the learned Judge, Special Court, Ludhiana declined the bail application filed by the petitioner vide order dated 15.03.2024. Being aggrieved, the petitioner earlier approached this Court by way of filing CRM-M-62662-2024, however the same was dismissed as not pressed vide order dated 20.02.2025. Hence being aggrieved, the petitioner is again before this Court by way of filing the present second petition praying for the grant of bail.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. He, at the outset, prays for the grant of bail to the petitioner on the basis of parity with that of the co-accused, namely, Surinder Singh. He has drawn the attention of this Court to the order dated 13.11.2025 passed in CRM-M-22343-2025 whereby, co-accused, namely, Surinder Singh has been granted regular bail by this Court. He has submitted that the petitioner is behind bars since the date of his arrest and thus, has suffered an incarceration of more than 02 years. He has submitted 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 has already been granted bail.

4. Learned counsel for the State has vehemently opposed the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner. He has submitted that the petitioner was specifically named in the secret information. He has submitted that on conducting the search, 03 Kgs of heroin was recovered, which is a commercial quantity and thus, the provisions of Section 37 of NDPS Act are attracted. He has endorsed the factum of grant of bail to the co-ac