233 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM-M No.6444 of 2026 Date of Decision: 10.02.2026 Varinder Singh @ Raju ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BHARDWAJ *****

Present: Mr. Rajinder Singh Bhatta, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Surinderjit Singh Nahar, Asstt. A.G., Punjab.

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RAJESH BHARDWAJ , J. (ORAL)

1. Present petition has been filed praying for the grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.171, dated 17.11.2024, under Sections 15(c)/25/29/61/85 of the NDPS Act, 1985, registered at Police Station Shahkot, District Jalandhar.

2. Succinctly, the facts of the case are that the police party, while on patrolling on 17.11.2024, received a secret information to the effect that Sonu son of Bohar Singh and Karan son of Parmatma Singh were big smugglers and they were involved in smuggling of poppy husk. It was informed that they purchased the contraband at low prices from other states and sell the same in high prices in different cities. It was alleged that they were coming in Truck bearing registration No.HP-12-8481 with driver Harpreet Singh @ Happy and cleaner Varinder Singh @ Raju (petitioner) and in case of barricading, they could be arrested along with the contraband. On receiving the secret information, the barricading was laid and on seeing the truck, as disclosed in the secret information, the same was stopped. On asking, driver of the truck disclosed his name to be Harpreet Singh @ Happy and the conductor of the truck, disclosed his name to be Varinder Singh @ Raju, i.e. the petitioner. They were suspected to be carrying some contraband and thus, search of the truck was conducted. On conducting the search of the truck, 105 Kgs of poppy husk was recovered. They failed to produce any license regarding the conscious possession of the same, thus, the FIR was registered and both were arrested on the spot. On registration of the FIR, the investigation commenced. On completion of the investigation, the challan was presented. The petitioner approached the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Jalandhar praying for the grant of bail. However, after hearing both the sides and finding no merit in the same, the learned Judge, Special Court, Jalandhar declined the bail application filed by the petitioner vide order dated 25.07.2025. Hence being aggrieved, the petitioner is before this Court by way of filing the present petition praying for the grant of regular bail.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. He has submitted that there is a blatant violation of mandatory provisions of Section 42 of NDPS Act. He has submitted that there is a violation of mandatory provisions of Section 50 of NDPS Act as well in conducting the search. To buttress his arguments, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has no criminal antecedents as he has never been involved in any other case. He has submitted that the co-accused, namely, Parmatma Singh, though was arrayed as an accused in the present case on the basis of disclosure statement of co-accused, however, he has been granted the concession of regular bail by this Court vide order dated 19.03.2025 passed in CRM-M-13793-2025. He has submitted that the petitioner is behind bars since the date of his arrest, i.e. 17.11.2024, however there is no material progress in the trial and thus, his right of speedy trial has been miserably defeated. He has thus submitted that in the facts and circumstances, the petitioner deserves to be granted regular bail.

4. Per contra, learned counsel for the State has vehemently opposed the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner. He has submitted that the petitioner was arrested on the spot. He has submitted that the petitioner was the conductor of the truck, from which the quantity of 105 Kg of Poppy Husk was recovered. He has submitted that the recovered cont