124 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: 06.04.2026 Dheeraj Kumar @ Kappa ..... Petitioner Versus State of Punjab .......Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BHARDWAJ Present: Mr. Chirag Suri, Legal Aid Counsel, for the petitioner.

Mr.Raj Karan Singh, AAG, Punjab.

Rajesh Bhardwaj, J. (ORAL)

1. Prayer in the present petition is for grant of regular bail to the petitioner in a case FIR No.191 dated 31.308.2024, registered under Sections 22(C), 61 and 85 of NDPS Act, 1985 (Sections 331(4), 305 and 238 of BNS, 2023 added lateron), at Police Station City Kotkapura, Faridkot.

2. Succinctly, facts of the case are that on 31.08.2024 the police party while on patrolling when reached the round-about made at Dana Mandi Moga Road Kotkapura, they saw two young men coming, who were holding transparent envelopes in their right hands. On seeing the police, they started turning back. However, on suspicion, they were apprehended by the Police and on asking, first young man disclosed his name to be Dheeraj Kumar @ Kapa (the petitioner) and the second person disclosed his name to be Pratap Kumar @ Ashoki. They were suspected to be carrying some contraband in the envelopes being carried by them. Thus, search of the envelopes was conducted and on conducting search, 4700 tablets make Nrx Buprenorphine 2mg and Naloxone 0.5 mg Sublingual Tablets IP Buprisan-N were recovered from Dheeraj Kumar @ Kapa and 6000 tablets make Nrx Buprenorphine 0.4 mg and Naloxone 0.1 mg Sublingual Tablets IP were recovered from Pratap Kumar @ Ashoki. They failed to produce any licence regarding the possession of the same, and thus, on registration of the FIR, they were arrested on the spot. The investigation commenced. Samples taken were sent to the FSL. The petitioner approached the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Faridkot 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 18.03.2025. Earlier the petitioner approached this Court by way of filing CRM-M-36880-2025 and CRM-M-41849-2025, however, the same were dismissed vide orders dated 21.07.2025 and 08.08.2025, respectively. Hence, the petitioner has again approached this Court praying for grant of regular bail by way of filing the present third petition.

3. It has been vehemently contended by learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner has been falsely and frivolously implicated in the present case. He submits that admittedly the alleged recovery is from a public place, however, no independent witness has been joined. It is submitted that the alleged recovery has been effected from the envelope, and thus, conscious possession of the contraband in itself is not proved against the petitioner. He submits that there is blatant violation of mandatory provisions of Section 50 of the NDPS Act. To buttress his arguments, he submits that the petitioner has never been involved in other case of similar nature. He submits that the petitioner is behind the bars from the last 1½ years, however, till date there is no material progress in the trial. He, thus, has submitted that in the overall facts and circumstances, the petitioner deserves to be granted bail.

4. Per contra, learned State counsel has vehemently controverted the submissions made by counsel for the petitioner. It is submitted that it is a case of chance recovery. It is submitted that the recovery effected from the petitioner is 4700 tablets containing 474.7 grams of Buprenorphine Hydrocloride and Naloxone Hydrocloride and from the co-accused 6000 tablets of Buprenorphine Hydrocloride have been recovered, which is a commercial quantity and thus, provisions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act are attracted in this case. On instructions, he has submitted that out of total 22 prosecution witnesses, 15 witnesses still remain to the examined. He has placed on record the custody certificate