GURPREET SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition has been filed under Section 439 Cr.P.C. for the grant of regular bail in FIR No.111 dated 16.07.2020, registered under Sections 21 and 25 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psycho tropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short - the Act), at Police Station Barnala.

(2.) Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution is that on receipt of secret information, the police party searched the petitioner and his co-accused and found co-accused Gurdeep Singh to be possession of 305 gms of heroin and the petitioner of one electric scale which according to the prosecution was used to weigh the heroin before selling it.

(3.) Seeking regular bail for the petitioner learned counsel submits that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case; there is no recovery of any narcotics from the person of the petitioner; the only recovery from the petitioner is a weighing scale; there is no other criminal in which the petitioner is involved; the petitioner has been in custody since 17.07.2020; report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. has already been filed and therefore the petitioner is not in a position to influence the investigation; for the last about three months no effective proceedings have taken place in the petitioner's trial due to COVID-19 pandemic for which he cannot be blamed and that since the petitioner's trial is yet to start the same will take a long time to conclude as in the same there are 14 prosecution witnesses to be examined.