Aanand Raj vs State Of Kerala

Viju Abraham, J

This is an application for Regular Bail.

The petitioner is the 2nd accused in Crime No.214/2022 of Poojappura Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram alleging commission of offences punishable under Sections 22(c), 25, 20 B II A of the NDPS Act.

The prosecution allegation is that, the petitioner a gratuitous passenger in an auto rickshaw bearing No.KL-01-BD-4708 driven and owned by the 1st accused, was intercepted by the police party at around 16.40 hrs on 14.02.2022 near Vijayamohini mill Bus stop, Thirumala and the 2nd accused was found in possession of 21.130 gms of MDMA(powdered form) and 46.460 gms of Ganja. The 1st accused was alleged to be in possession of 3.480 gms of MDMA and thereby committed the aforesaid offences.

The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is totally innocent of the charges leveled against him and no contraband was seized from his possession and therefore he has no conscious possession of the contraband and the petitioner is only a gratuitous passenger in the auto rickshaw driven and owned by the 1st accused.

When the matter came up for consideration on earlier occasion, it was adjourned for the learned Public Prosecutor to get instructions regarding the chemical analysis report of the alleged contraband and the learned Public Prosecutor, upon instructions and on the basis of the chemical analysis report, submitted that in the chemical analysis report, the contraband was found to be Methamphetamine instead of MDMA and the quantity involved is only an intermediate quantity. It is further submitted that the petitioner is involved in three other cases out of which, two cases are alleging commission of offences punishable under the NDPS Act.

Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, taking into consideration the fact that the petitioner is in custody from 14.02.2022 and on the basis of the chemical analysis report made available by the learned Public Prosecutor, I am inclined to grant bail to the petitioner but taking into consideration the criminal antecedents of the petitioner, bail is granted only be on the following stringent conditions:

(i) The petitioner shall execute bond for a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only) each with two solvent sureties each for the like-sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court;

(ii) Petitioner shall appear before the investigating officer in Crime No.214/2022 of Poojappura Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram on every Saturday at 11 am, and co-operate with the investigation;

(iii) The petitioner shall not attempt to interfere with the investigation or to influence any witness in Crime No.214/2022 of Poojappura Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram;

(iv) The petitioner shall surrender his passport before the jurisdictional court. If the petitioner does not have a passport, he shall execute an affidavit to that effect and file the same before the said court within seven days of release on bail;

(v) The petitioner shall not involve in any other crime while on bail.

If any of the aforesaid conditions are violated, the investigating officer in Crime No.214/2022 of Poojappura Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram may file an application before the jurisdictional court, for cancellation of bail.