SANDEEP KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of instant petition, filed under Sec. 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the petitioner is seeking bail in case F.I.R. No. 77/2023, dtd. 15/3/2023, registered at Police Station Sadar Mandi, District Mandi, H.P., under Sec. 21 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter referred to as 'NDPS Act').

(2.) The prosecution story, in brief, is that on 14/3/2023, while the police party was on routine patrolling duty and present at Bus Stand Mandi, they received a secret information that some persons, who were residing in a rented accommodation in the house of one Rachna Goel were indulged in selling heroin and if a raid is conducted at their place, huge quantity of heroin could be recovered. On having received such information, the police associated Aashutosh Pal, Manish Chauhan and Aditya as independent witnesses in the proceedings and reached house of Rachna Goel. Thereafter, the police went to the second floor of the said house and knocked the door of the room and one person opened the door. The police entered the room and saw three boys and one girl sitting on the double bed inside the room, who were having one bidi packet, one lighter and one syringe, filled with some liquid substance, with them. On asking, the boys disclosed their names as Arvinder, Puneet Kumar Rana, Lalit Kumar and Sandeep Kumar (petitioner herein) and the girl disclosed her name as Kanta Devi. The police asked the persons sitting on the bed to get down from the bed and when Puneet Kumar Rana got down from the bed, one transparent polythene packet was found underneath him. When the said packet was opened and checked with the help of drug detention kit, it was found containing heroin. On weighment, the recovered heroin was found to be 13.77 grams. Thereafter, the police completed all the codal formalities and FIR as detailed hereinabove was registered against the accused persons and they were arrested.

(3.) The bail petition has been filed on the ground that the petitioner is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case. Learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that investigation in this case is complete and nothing remains to be recovered at the instance of the petitioner. He further contended that co-accused namely Kanta Devi, Lalit Kumar and Puneet Kumar Rana have already been released on bail by the learned trial Court, as such, the petitioner is also required to be released on bail, as no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping him behind the bars for an unlimited period.