UNION OF INDIA Vs. VIGIN K. VARGHESE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) These appeals, being Special Leave Petition (Crl.) Nos. 7768 of 2025 and 11097 of 2025, are directed against the orders dtd. 22/1/2025 and 12/3/2025 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay granting bail to the respondent accused Vigin K. Varghese on prosecutions instituted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as "NDPS Act". The first order, rendered in Criminal Bail Application No. 1416 of 2024, relates to the seizure of approximately 50.232 kilograms of Cocaine imported from South Africa in the name of M/s Yummito International Foods India Pvt. Ltd., of which the respondent is a Director. The second order, rendered in Criminal Bail Application No. 1540 of 2024, granted bail on the ground of parity in a connected prosecution arising from a seizure effected within a few days of the first. As both appeals concern the same accused, the same investigating agency, and substantially overlapping facts and legal issues, they are heard together and disposed of by this common order.

(3.) On 5/10/2022, Officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Mumbai Zonal Unit, acting on specific information, identified a refrigerated shipping container bearing No. MSDU-9809038, declared to contain pallets of pears, imported from South Africa in the name of M/s Yummito International Foods India Pvt. Ltd. The respondent is stated to be a Director and the operative mind of said concern. The container was escorted from the terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port to EFC Logistics CFS for examination in the presence of two independent panch witnesses and the respondent.