219 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM-M No.17577 of 2026 Date of decision: 08.04.2026 Gurpreet Singh @ Gopi .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab ..... Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BHARDWAJ ******

Present :- Mr. Yajur Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. K. D. Sachdeva, DAG, 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.265, dated 19.08.2020, under Sections 21, 22, 29 of NDPS Act, 1985, registered at Police Station Maqboolpura, District Amritsar.

2. Succinctly, the facts of the case are that the police party was on patrolling on 19.08.2020 and when they reached near Swaraj International School, Mehta Road, they saw one young man coming on the motorcycle from the side of village Othiya link road towards Swaraj International School. On seeing the police, he got perplexed and tried to turn back his motorcycle. He after taking out a black coloured polythene packet from the right pocket of his trouser, tried to throw away the same. However, on suspicion, he was apprehended along with the polythene packet with the help of the police officials. On asking, he disclosed his named to be Sukhbir Singh @ Sukh @ Bhatti. He was suspected to be carrying some contraband in the black coloured polythene packet and thus, search of the same was conducted. On conducting the search of the polythene packet, 265 grams of heroin was recovered. He failed to produce any license regarding the conscious possession of the same. Thus, the FIR was registered and he was arrested on the spot. On registration of the FIR, the investigation commenced. The samples taken were sent to the FSL. During the investigation, complicity of the petitioner surfaced and thus, he was arrayed as an accused in the present case. The petitioner approached this Court praying for the grant of anticipatory bail by way of filing CRM-M-38156-2020, however the same was allowed by this Court vide order dated 18.11.2020. Thereafter the petitioner could not appear before the learned trial Court as he was already behind bars in some other case bearing FIR No.103 of 2021 and due to the same, his bail was cancelled and he was declared as proclaimed offender vide order dated 07.08.2024. Resultantly, the petitioner was arrested in the present case through production warrants on 12.06.2025. On completion of the investigation, the challan was presented and on framing of charges, the trial commenced. The petitioner approached the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Amritsar, praying for the grant of regular bail. However, after hearing both the sides and finding no merit in the same, the learned Judge, Special Court, Amritsar declined the bail application filed by the petitioner vide order dated 18.12.2025. Hence being aggrieved, the petitioner is before this Court praying for the grant of regular bail by way of filing the present petition.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has been falsely and frivolously implicated in the present case. He, at the outset, prays for the grant of bail on the basis of parity with that of the co-accused. He has drawn the attention of this Court to the order dated 06.11.2025, passed by this Court in CRM-M-54191-2025, whereby co-accused of the petitioner, namely, Ranjit Singh, has been granted the concession of regular bail. He has submitted that case of the petitioner is at par with co-accused, who has been granted bail by this Court. He has submitted that though the petitioner is involved in one more case, however, he is on bail in that case. He submits that on the basis of the parity, the petitioner deserves to be granted bail as case of the petitioner is similar to that of the co-accused, who has already been granted bail by this Court.

4. Learned counsel for the State, however, has endorsed the fact that case of the petitioner is at par with co-accused, namely, Ranjit Singh, w