VARINDER KUMAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Two petitions viz. Criminal Revision No. 822 of 2021 titled as " Sunil Kumar @ Sonu versus State of Punjab " and Criminal Miscellaneous No.37497 of 2021 titled as "Varinder Kumar versus State of Punjab" are being decided by a common order.

(2.) The parties agree that the dispute in question can be decided through one single order as both the petitions arise from the same FIR. While Criminal Revision No. 822 raises a challenge to the order dtd. 24/3/2021 passed by the Judge, Special Court, Bathinda on an application submitted by the petitioner under Sec. 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "the Cr.P.C".) seeking discharge in case FIR No. 69 dtd. 12/8/2019 registered at Police Station Thermal, Bathinda under Ss. 22 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred as the "NDPS Act"), the criminal miscellaneous No. 37497 of 2021 has been filed by the petitioners seeking quashing of the FIR No. 0069 dtd. 12/8/2019 along with all consequential proceedings.

(3.) Briefly, the facts of the case are that the FIR in question was registered on the statement of Inspector Gurdeep Singh. A secret information is stated to have been received by the Police Officer when he was present at Rose Garden Chowk in Government vehicle bearing No. PB-65-D-9070 driven by ASI Harbans Singh, 945 in connection with patrolling and checking of intoxicants when he informed that one Sunil Kumar @ Sonu S/o Rashpal Kumar Aggarwal resident of Maur Mandi, who is confined in Central Jail, Bathinda in FIR No. 100 dtd. 11/7/2019 registered under Sec. 22 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Maur, when he was out of the Jail, he had kept a pile of intoxicant tables in some transport. Hence, a ruqa in this regard was sent through Constable Gagandeep Singh, 1869 for registration of the case. DSP of the area was also requested through telephone to reach at the spot. Production warrants of the accused Sunil Kumar @ Sonu were obtained and he was taken in custody in the instant case. Upon interrogation, a disclosure statement of Sunil Kumar @ Sonu was recorded with the police that he had ordered 2,34,000 tablets of Tredol- 100 that are packed in 10 boxes and have been brought through Jaipur Golden Transport from Padampur Gujarat and are lying concealed in the store rooms of Kothari Transport under tarpaulin. It was also contended that owner of the transport has no idea about the same and that he had gone to seek delivery of the said consignment, however, the same could not be released to him as he was not in possession of the Billity. The said statement was duly recorded and the police officials went to the spot and also associated independent private witnesses. The accused Sunil Kumar @ Sonu produced before Inspector Gurdeep Singh 10 boxes of intoxicant tablets from under a tarapaulin lying in a room of Kothari Transport. Upon opening of each box, there were 117 boxes containing 200 tablets each. Thus a total of 2,34,000 intoxicant tablets make of Tredol-100 were recovered. All the boxes were marked with Serial numbers and parcels were prepared. The sample parcels were prepared and sealed and after verification were taken into possession, the site plan was prepared. Statements of witness were also recorded. On returning, ASI Farvinder Singh produced the case property. On 14/8/2019, Sub Inspector Khem Chand produced the accused along with the case property in the Court where the Magistrate on seeing the sealed parcel of intoxicant tablets, broke the seal and took out 1-1 strip from the parcel and prepared 20 samples parcels and the remaining parcels of intoxicant tablets measuring 23380 was sealed. The accused Sunil Kumar @ Sonu was interrogated and on the basis of statement of one Krishan Banal son of Sohan Lal, Varinder Kumar son of Surinder Kumar (petitioner in CRM-M-37497-2021) was nominated as an accused. It is further stated that statement of one Krishan Bansal was also recorded who nominated Varinder Kumar. Police remand of Sunil Kumar and production warrants of Varinder Kumar were obtained. One Manoj Kumar son of Om Parkash produced Billity Bill of recovered tablets and on his statement, Rakesh Kumar was also nominated as an accused. Manoj Kumar also stated that the mobile number mentioned on the billity belonged to the receiver namely Rakesh Kumar resident of Dhakoli. Statement of Krishan Bansal was also recorded who stated that Varinder Kumar son of Surender had come to claim the parcels against Billity in the name of BMW Medicos and Varinder thereafter said that Sunil Kumar @ Sonu will bring the Billity in his name and collect the consignment. It is contended that both the petitioners are nominated as accused on the statement of Krishan Bansal. The billity bill has been placed on record as Annexure P-5 and the same is stated to have been issued in favour of one BMW Medicos, Near Bus Stand, Maur Mandi, Bathinda for which a drug license under Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940 has been issued by the Department of Drugs Control and that the said license was valid up to 11/9/2021. It is contended that one Narayan Dass is the proprietor of the BMW Medicos. A perusal of the form 20 B issued under Rule 61(1) shows that the specific conditions which the lincensee was permitted to deal with and the same were drugs except for a specific drugs named in hereinafter below: