Sajeev Kumar vs State Of Kerala

Dr.Kauser Edappagath, J

This is an application filed u/s 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail.

The petitioner is the accused No.10 in Crime No.26/2020 of Excise Enforcement and Anti Narcotic Special Squad, Malappuram.

The prosecution case in short is that on 03.10.2020 at about 6.30 am, 167.5 kilograms of dried ganja was seized from a pick up van by the Circle

Inspector of Excise Special Squad. It is further alleged that in consequence to the conspiracy held by the accused Nos.1 to 10, the accused Nos.1 to 4

obtained ganja from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and that accused Nos.5 to 10 financed the other accused in committing the offence.

Heard both sides and perused the case diary.

The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is absolutely innocent and he has been falsely implicated in the

present case. He further submitted that there are no materials to connect the petitioner with the alleged crime and hence he is entitled to get bail. The

learned Public Prosecutor opposed the bail application. He contended that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the

petitioner and if the petitioner is released on bail at this stage, it would affect the course of investigation.

The detection was on 03.10.2020. On that day, accused Nos.1 to 4 were arrested. Subsequently, the accused No.8 was arrested on 10.02.2021 and

accused No.9 was arrested on 12.03.2021. The accused No.6 surrendered on 21.06.2021. The petitioner was arrayed as an accused only

on 29.06.2021. He was arrested on 29.09.2021. Since then, he is in judicial custody. Admittedly, nothing was seized from the possession of the

petitioner. The petitioner was arrested after almost one year from the date of incident on the basis of the confession statement of the co-accused. The

Hon’ble Supreme Court in Tofan Singh v. State of Tamil Nadu [2021 KHC 111] has held that the confession statement of a co-accused is not

admissible. Considering all these aspects, I am of the view that embargo under Section 37 of NDPS Act would not apply to the petitioner. The

investigation is almost over. Hence he can be released on bail on conditions.

In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) The petitioner shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the

satisfaction of the jurisdictional Magistrate/Court.

(ii) The petitioner shall fully co-operate with the investigation.

(iii) The petitioner shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m on every Saturday until further orders. The petitioner shall also appear

before the investigating officer as and when required by him.

(iv) The petitioner shall not commit any offence of like nature while on bail.

(v) The petitioner shall not make any attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or any other way try to tamper with

the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.

(vi) The petitioner shall not leave State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.