KULDEEP SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner seeks grant of regular bail in respect of a case registered against him vide FIR No. 142, dated 23.11.2019, Police Station Phase 11, SAS Nagar, Mohali, under Sections 22/61/85 of NDPS Act.

(2.) It is the case of prosecution that on 23.11.2019, the police during the course of patrolling and checking of suspected persons came across the petitioner who was carrying a polythene bag in his right hand and who upon noticing the police party suddenly tried to return back. The petitioner on the basis of suspicion was apprehended and upon inquiry disclosed his name as Kuldip Singh. The search of the bag carried by the petitioner led to recovery of 600 tablets of Lomotil (Diphenoxylate Hydrochloride). Further it is the case of the prosecution that subsequently at the instance of the petitioner, another 720 tablets of 'Lomotil' were recovered on the next day from a car parked near the place from where the petitioner was apprehended a day earlier.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the net weight of the contraband recovered from the petitioner on the first day i.e. on 23.11.2019 would work out to 37 grams which is a quantity less than quantity defined for 'commercial category' of the contraband. It has further been submitted that the petitioner cannot be attributed any conscious possession of the contraband allegedly recovered on the next day i.e. on 24.11.2019 as the admissibility of any such statement made under Section 27 NDPS Act would be subject to various other parameters. It has further been submitted that in any case the recovery on the second day i.e. on 24.11.2019 was effected from a car which does not belong to the petitioner and in fact stands registered in the name of wife of the petitioner.