DHARAMVEER Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Prayer in this third petition under Sec. 439 Cr.PC is for the grant of regular bail in case FIR No.39 dtd. 2/3/2022 under Ss. 21, 21-C and 29 of NDPS Act, 1985 registered at Police Station Special Task Force, Phase-4, District STF Wing, SAS Nagar.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that while the police party was on patrolling duty secret information was received that Aman Mahajan and Dharamveer (petitioner) who had been confined in Ludhiana Jail were doing the business of selling Heroin since long. They had come near Greeland School, Ganesh Murti area, Police Station Salem Tabri, Ludhiana for supplying Heroin to the customers. If a supervision was made near the said school, the two accused could be arrested. Based on the said information, the petitioner along with co- accused was apprehended and the recovery of 345 grams of Heroin came to be effected from the left pocket of the pant of Dharamveer.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. The mandatory provisions of Ss. 42 and 50 of the NDPS Act have not been complied with in their proper perspective. No independent witness was joined at the time of search and seizure. As he was a first-time offender, in custody since 6/3/2022 and 02 out of the 17 prosecution witnesses had been examined so far, the trial of the present case was not likely to be concluded anytime soon and therefore, he was entitled to the concession of bail in view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Nitish Adhikary @ Bapan Versus The State of West Bengal, SLP (Crl.) Nos.5769/2022 arising out of judgment and order dtd. 4/5/2022 in CRM(NDPS) No.442/2022, decided on 1/8/2022 and Hasanujjaman and others Versus The State of West Bengal, SLP (Crl.) No.(s).3221/2023 arising out of impugned final judgment and order dtd. 29/11/2022 in CRM(NDPS) No.1323/2022, decided on 4/5/2023.