ABDUL SHUKKOOR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 11/4/2025 in C.C.No.129 of 2025 on the file of the Additional District Judge/ Presiding Officer, Special Court for Essential Commodities Act Cases, Coimbatore, for the offences under Ss. 8(c), 22(c) and 29(1) of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, seeks bail. This is the second bail application of the petitioner and the earlier bail application in Crl.O.P.No.18355 of 2025 was dismissed as withdrawn, vide order dtd. 28/8/2025.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that on 3/2/2025 at about 19:15 hours, based on a specific information, the respondent team went near Gudalur Thorapalli Government Residential School and intercepted a Kerala State Swift bus bearing Registration No.KL-15-A-2376 proceeding from Thorapalli Forest Department Checkpoint towards Gudalur and entered into the bus and started inspecting; that on seeing the respondent police, A2 namely Mohammed Shabber, who came in the said bus tried to escape and the respondent had caught hold of him; that after complying all the mandatory provisions under the NDPS Act, search and seizure was effected and found that A2 was in illegal possession of 600 grams of Methamphetamine; that thereafter, the statement of A2 was recorded, which reveals that on insturction of A3 namely Niyaas @ Kuttypa, A2 went to Bengaluru, purchased the said contraband and while he was returning, he was caught by the respondent; that thereafter, A3 was served with summons, his statement was recorded and subsequently, he was arrested; that based on the confession statement recorded from the accused and further course of investigation, it is revealed that the petitioner herein is also involved in the aforesaid offence; that subsequently, the petitioner was implicated in this case and subsequently, arrested and remanded to judicial custody.

(3.) The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that, the petitioner has been falsely implicated in this case based on the confession of the co-accused and the fact that the petitioner herein is friend of A2; that the alleged bank transactions taken place between the petitioner and A2 is only the money transferred between them for their personal and business transactions, which has been wrongly portrayed by the prosecution as though the transactions have been used for the alleged nefarious activities, apart from that there is no other legally acceptable evidence to implicate the petitioner in the aforesaid offence; that the investigation of this case was completed and final report also filed in C.C.No.129 of 2025; that the petitioner is in judicial custody since 11/4/2025 and his prolonged detention without trial, violates his fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India; and that the petitioner is ready to abide by any condition that may be imposed by this Court and sought for bail to the petitioner.