Punjab and Haryana High Court: Ajay Tewari, J., passed an order to release the petitioner on regular bail on the ground that no evidence was made against the petitioner except for the statement of the cohort.
The application was filed under Section 439 CrPC for regular bail in the case registered under Sections 21 and 29 of NDPS Act, 1985.
The facts of the case were that information was received by the police regarding the purchase of the 4 kilograms of heroine and links with Pakistani smugglers who had called for heavy quantity of opium and had kept the same beyond the barbed wires. After a few days of investigation, Kuldeep Singh who possessed consignment was arrested and on his statement about the present petitioner being cohort, petitioner was arrested. The bail application of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that investigation was still pending and police were yet to collect evidence about the petitioner. Hence, the present application to invoke the special power of the High Court to grant regular bail was made.
Amarjit Kaur Khurana, DAG, Punjab submitted that no recovery of the heroine was made from the petitioner and that no evidence had been gathered. It was also submitted that the petitioner was in the custody for nine months, for which a custody certificate was placed on record.
Considering the submission, the High Court granted the bail on the ground that the petitioner had already served nine months in the custody and the trial was not likely to be concluded in the near future.[Gurchait Singh v. State of Punjab, 2019 SCC OnLine P&H 564, decided on 16-05-2019]
