SANJAY UPADHYA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of present petition filed under Sec. 439 C.P.C., petitioner prays for his release on regular bail in case FIR No.112 dtd. 3/6/2022 registered under Ss. 20, 29, 25, 27 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short, 'the NDPS Act') at Police Station S.T.F. Phase-4, SAS Nagar, Mohali.

(2.) As per prosecution allegations, on 3/6/2022, ASI ParamJit Singh along with SI Gurcharan Singh and other police official of S.T.F. Ludhiana were present near Bapu Market, Village Lohara, when secret information was received to the effect that petitioner - Sanjay Upadhya along with his son Sonu Kumar and son-in-law Aklesh Kumar was jointly doing the illegal business of sale of ganja since long time. It was further informed that Sonu Kumar and Aklesh Kumar had been sent by the petitioner on an Activa to supply ganja to his customers and that the said Sonu and Aklesh were sitting on Activa waiting for their customers and if raid is conducted, they can be apprehended. Statutory compliance of Sec. 42 of the NDPS Act was made by sending special report to the Senior Police Officers.

(3.) It is contended by learned counsel for the petitioner that there is non-compliance of Sec. 42 of the NDPS Act; that contraband confiscated by the prosecution does not fall within the purview of Sec. 2(iii)(b) of the NDPS Act, because ganja is flowering of fruiting tops of Cannabis Plant (excluding seeds and leaves) and that in the present case, as per the FSL report, the recovered material is "greenish brown-coloured flowering tops dried along with the seeds". Learned counsel contends that confiscated material cannot be termed as ganja as a whole and it was a mixture and that seeds are liable to be excluded from the total weight and if that weight is excluded, the recovered material will be less than 20 Kg falling in the non- commercial category.