Dinesh @ Tenatos vs State Of Karnataka

S Vishwajith Shetty, J

Accused No.2 in Special Case No.80 of 2023 pending before the Court of VIII Additional District and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru Rural District, arising out of Crime No.127 of 2022 registered by Nelamangala Rural Police Station, Bengaluru Rural District for the offence under Section 20(b) of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short, NDPS Act) is before this Court under Section 439 of Cr.P.C., seeking regular bail.

Heard the learned Counsel for the parties.

It is the case of the prosecution that on 05.07.2022, the first informant had received credible information that two persons who had arrived in a motorcycle bearing registration No.KA-02-JW-7372 near Rashi Gate, Byadarahalli Village, Nelamangala Taluk, Bengaluru Rural District with a gunny bag were moving in a suspicious manner and therefore, the complainant along with his staff had raided the spot and apprehended two persons who revealed their names as Syed Imran and Dinesh Tenatos. From their possession, 29 kgs and 800 gms of ganja was seized and was subjected to panchanama. Thereafter, the apprehended accused and the seized ganja were brought to the police station and FIR in Crime No.127 of 2022 was registered by Nelamangala Rural Police Station. The apprehended accused were subsequently produced before the jurisdictional Court and remanded to judicial custody. Investigation in the case is complete and charge sheet has been filed against two persons. The petitioner is arrayed as accused No.2 in the charge-sheet. Bail application filed by the petitioner before the Trial Court in Special Case No.80 of 2023 was rejected on 08.12.2023 and therefore, he is before this Court.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is a youngster, aged about 23 years who is in custody for the last more than 2 years. Accused No.1 has been granted regular bail by this Court in Criminal Petition No.9966 of 2023 on 15.11.2023. The petitioner has no other criminal antecedents. Seized contraband article/ganja included stem, leaves, flowers, roots and other parts of ganja plant and therefore, it becomes doubtful that the seized contraband article can be considered as ganja within the meaning of Section 2(iii)(b) of the NDPS Act. Accordingly, he prays to allow the petition.

Per contra, the learned High Court Government Pleader has opposed the bail application. He submits that since contraband article in the present case is of commercial quantity, in view of Section 37(1)(b) of the Act, petitioner cannot be enlarged on bail. He submits that petitioner hails from Andhra Pradesh and therefore, if he is enlarged on bail, he is likely to flee away from justice.

The allegation against the accused persons in the present case is that they had brought contraband article/ganja in a gunny bag and were making attempt to sell the same to the public. The seized contraband article/ganja in the present case totally weighs 29 Kgs 800 grams. Petitioner who has no other criminal antecedents is in judicial custody from 05.07.2022. He is a youngster, aged about 23 years. Accused No.1 has been granted regular bail in Criminal Petition No.9966 of 2023 disposed of on 15.11.2023.

In the case of Chitta Biswas Alias Subhas vs. State of West Bengal reported in 2020 SCC OnLine SC 1536, the Hon'ble Supreme Court taking into consideration that the accused was in custody for a period of one year seven months and there was no sufficient progress in trial, without expressing any opinion on merits and demerits of the case, has granted regular bail to the accused. In the case of Nitish Adhikary alias Bapan vs. State of West Bengal reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 2068 in a case where charge sheet was filed for the offences punishable under Sections 21(c) and 37 of the NDPS Act and accused was in custody for a period of one year seven months, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has granted regular bail on the ground that trial is still in the preliminary stage, as only one witness was examined.

In the present case, the petitioner is in judicial custody for the last more than two years. Considering the period of incarceration of the petitioner and also having regard to the fact that the accused No.1 has been already enlarged on bail by this Court, I am of the view that without expressing any opinion on the merits and de-merits of the case, petitioner's prayer for grant of regular bail has to be answered affirmatively, subject to imposing appropriate conditions, which would take care of the apprehension expressed by the learned HCGP. Accordingly, the following:

ORDER

Petition is allowed. The petitioner is directed to be enlarged on bail in Special Case No.80 of 2023 pending before the Court of VIII Additional District and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru Rural District, arising out of Crime No.127 of 2022 registered by Nelamangala Rural Police Station, Bengaluru Rural District for the offence under Section 20(b) of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, subject to the following conditions:

a) Petitioner shall execute personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- (One Lakh only) with two sureties for the like-sum, out of which one shall be a local surety, to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court;

b) The petitioner shall appear regularly on all the dates of hearing before the Trial Court unless the Trial Court exempts his appearance for valid reasons;

c) The petitioner shall not directly or indirectly threaten or tamper with the prosecution witnesses;

d) The petitioner shall not involve in similar offences in future;