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2022 (7) TMI 517 - SC - Indian LawsSeeking grant of Bail - Search of vehicle - conspiracy of financing illicit trafficking of contraband and harbouring offender, punishable in terms of Section 27A NDPS Act - seizure of contraband - applicability of restriction of Section 37 NDPS Act - HELD THAT:- It appears questionable if the respondent was entitled to be granted bail in this matter, particularly having regard to the facts and circumstances that: (a) the accusation is essentially of financing the trafficking of contraband and also of harbouring offenders, which relates to the offence under Section 27A NDPS Act and to which, the rigours of Section 37 NDPS Act do apply; (b) the accusation is supported by prima facie evidence, including the statements of witnesses as also CCTV footage and call data records; (c) on 23.02.2021, even though the respondent attempted to question the notice summoning him to appear at 04:00 p.m. and the High Court dismissed his writ petition but, he did not appear and was apprehended later in the night at a distant place; (d) the prosecution has shown that the respondent was involved in as many as 53 criminal cases and he has been convicted in at least two of them; and (e) the prosecution has alleged that even in relation to this particular case, the respondent had been separately charge-sheeted for the offence pertaining to Section 353 IPC and he has attempted to threaten the law enforcing agencies and personnel. According to the prosecution, the FIR in question for offences under Sections 21(b) and 29 NDPS Act came to be registered on the basis of a written complaint dated 19.02.2021, as submitted to the Officer In-Charge of New Alipore Police Station, Kolkata by Somnath Sarkar, SI after the aforesaid proceedings of search of the said motorcar as also seizure of contraband from the motorcar. This complaint dated 19.02.2021 is an admitted document of the appellant and is rather the foundation of the entire matter - the motorcar in question was in motion and was moving from west to east direction, which was detained by police with the help of other raiding team members; and second, that during search, the occupants of motorcar pointed towards two specific places inside the vehicle where the contraband drug/cocaine was placed in a concealed manner i.e., rear zip cover of the left front seat and beneath the driver’s seat. Both these assertions, when examined with reference to the alleged statements of the three motorcar-occupants, as placed before us with supplementary written submissions, their incompatibility and contradiction strikingly come to the fore. At the present stage and on prima facie consideration of the matter, the only logical approach could be to proceed on the basis of the version of the SI as given in the written complaint because, it is not the case of the appellant that the version in the written complaint is not correct. In this view of the matter, the very edifice of the prosecution case against the respondent crumbles down and falls flat. Putting it differently, the story of planting of contraband in the vehicle in question by some third person like Amrit Raj Singh could only be disbelieved, for being squarely contrary to the initial case of the prosecution, as stated in the written complaint - Once the veracity of prosecution case against the respondent is in serious doubt, further analysis on the other factors about financing the drug trafficking and harbouring of offender need not be undertaken because, when the story of planting of contraband is removed out of consideration, all other factors by which respondent is sought to be connected with such alleged planting could only be regarded as false and fanciful, at least at this stage. There are no reason to consider interference in the order passed by the High Court granting bail to the respondent with specific conditions - it is deemed appropriate to observe that none of the comments herein would be of any bearing on the final view to be taken by the Trial Court after the trial because, the observations herein are only of prima facie view and that too, so far relevant for the purpose of the question of grant of bail to the respondent. Appeal dismissed.
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