Himachal Pradesh High Court
Mohar Lal vs State Of Himachal Pradesh on 19 August, 2023
Author: Virender Singh
Bench: Virender Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Cr.MP(M) No. 2001 of 2023 .
Reserved on: 18.08.2023
Decided on : 19.08.2023
Mohar Lal ...Applicant
Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh ...Respondent
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Coram
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Virender Singh, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 For the applicant rt : Mr. Hemant Kumar Thakur, Advocate.
For the respondent : Mr. Mohinder Zharaick, Addl. A.G. with Mr. Tejasvi Sharma, Addl. A.G., Mr. H.S. Rawat, Addl. A.G. and Ms. Leena Guleria, Dy. A.G. Virender Singh, Judge.
Applicant-Mohar Lal has filed the present application, under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as 'Cr.PC'), seeking indulgence of this Court to direct the Police/Investigating Officer of Police Station Moorang, District Kinnaur, H.P., to release him on bail, in the event of his arrest, in FIR No. 32 of 2023, dated 2nd August, 2023, registered under Sections 1 Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes.
::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS 220 & 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter referred to as the 'NDPS Act').
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2. According to the applicant, he is permanent resident of the address mentioned in the head-note of the application. According to him, FIR No. 32 of 2023 was registered against one Chattar Singh under Section 20 & of 29 of NDPS Act at Police Station, Moorang, District Kinnaur, H.P. and he has falsely been implicated in the said case, at the instance of accused Chattar Singh.
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3. According to him, he is from a respectable family and having deep roots in the society.
4. The applicant has given certain undertakings, for which, he is ready to abide by, in case, directions are issued to the police/I.O under Section 438 Cr.P.C. As such, the applicant has prayed that the relief, as mentioned in the application, may kindly be granted in his favour.
5. When put to notice, police has filed the status report disclosing therein that on 02.08.2023 at about 9.00 a.m. ASI Kuleep Kumar, I/O SIU, Kinnaur along-with other police officials had left the SIU office, Reckong-peo towards Spilo side. At about 3.30 p.m. when the I.O. and other ::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS 3 police officials was present near the bridge at Akhpa, then, he received a secret information regarding the fact that one .
Chattar Singh is moving towards Ropa valley in a vehicle and he is having charas in his possession and, in case, he is nabbed and checked, charas in huge quantity could be recovered.
of 5.1. The said information was found to be reliable and authentic, as such, requisite application under Section 42(2) of the NDPS Act was prepared and sent to rt Supervisory Officer, SIU, through Constable Raj Mohan at about 3.40 p.m. Thereafter, the I.O along-with other police officials reached at Akhpa check-post at about 3.50 p.m. With the help of Incharge Akhpa check-post HASI Basu Bandhu, they had started checking the vehicles coming from Rampur side. At about 4.25 p.m. one pick-up bearing registration No. HP64B-8644, being driven by its driver, came from Rampur side, which was signaled to stop by the Incharge check-post Akhpa. On inquiry, the person on the wheel of the vehicle has disclosed his name as Krishan Chand son of Hukam Chand and wooden furniture was found loaded in the said vehicle. The destination of the said vehicle was Sunnam.
::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS 45.2. By the side of seat of driver, another person was found sitting. As per the driver, the said person had taken .
lift in the vehicle from Nigulsari, District Kinnaur. On inquiry, the said person disclosed his name as Chattar Singh. He is having rucksack in his lap. Regarding said person, secret information was received by the I.O. On the of basis of the said information, the rucksack being carried by said Chattar Singh was searched. The proceedings were photographed and videographed through C. Vinay Katoch.
rt The rucksack when opened in the presence of HASI Basu Bandu and Constable Rajman, as no independent witness was found there, in the same, a plastic stick shaped substance was found kept under the t-shirt. The said substance on smelling and on the basis of experience and disclosed by Chattar Singh, was found to be charas. On weighment of the same with the electronic digital machine, was found 776 grams. The charas was again put in the same envelop and the envelop was put in the cloth parcel, which was sealed with four seals of sample 'D'. Other codal formalities were completed on the spot.
::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS 55.3. Thereafter, rukka was sent to the Police Station for registration of FIR. Accused Chattar Singh was arrested .
on 02.08.2023 at about 8.25 p.m. 5.4. During investigation, accused has disclosed that he has purchased the said charas from a person known as Mohar Lal (applicant), who is resident of Anni of side.
5.5. During investigation, Chattar Singh also disclosed that he is acquainted with Mohar Lal, but does rt not know his address. Thereafter, the CDRs of mobile Nos.
94590-97576 and 94185-21851 belonging to Chattar Singh were obtained.
5.6. On the basis of CDRs, it is the case of the police that from mobile No. 94590-97576, from January, 2023 to 01.08.2023, 106 calls were made on mobile No. 94593- 46041. As per accused Chattar Singh, mobile No. 94593- 46041 belongs to applicant Mohar Lal. Thereafter, by moving an application, CDR and consumer application form of mobile No. 94593-46041 was obtained. On the basis of information supplied, the said mobile number was registered in the name of Mohar Lal son of Shetu Ram.
::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS 66. On the basis of status report filed on 08.08.2023, interim protection was granted to the .
applicant by directing the I.O. to release the applicant, in the event of his arrest, subject to his furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs. 40,000/- with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the I.O. and the matter was of adjourned for 11.08.2023.
7. On 11.08.2023, supplementary status report filed, disclosing therein that from the perusal of the CDRs, rt it was found that on 01.08.2023, accused Chattar Singh had made calls on mobile No. 94590-97576 from 8.48 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. The tower location of both these phones was found to be at Rampur.
8. It is the specific case of the police that the applicant is not disclosing the true facts to the police. The bank details of both the accused is to be obtained from the bank.
9. On 15.8.2023, the police filed the supplementary status report, disclosing therein that the applicant has only joined the investigation on 14.08.2023.
Prior to that, neither he has associated in the investigation ::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS 7 nor given any specific reason for not doing so. He is not co-operating with the investigation.
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10. In nut-shell, it is the case of the police that the applicant had not joined on 09.08.2023 and 14.08.2023.
11. On the basis of above facts, a prayer has been made that intensive investigation is to be conducted from of applicant Mohar Lal. Despite the specific directions issued by this Court to the applicant to join the investigation as and when directed by the I.O. to do so, he has not joined.
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12. Considering the stand of the police that he is not co-operating with the investigation, this Court is of the view that the applicant is misusing the interim protection granted to him by this Court.
13. Even otherwise, the custodial interrogation is more result orientated, then, the investigation conducted upon the person, who is having interim protection in his favour. When, the I.O. has come up with the specific plea that the applicant is no co-operating in the investigation, then, the interim protection, which has been granted to the applicant is liable to be withdrawn from him.
::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS 814. The applicant is involved in a heinous offence and the police has every right to conduct the investigation .
in order to find the truth.
15. Considering all these facts, the application is dismissed and the interim protection granted to the applicant vide order dated 08.08.2023 is vacated.
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16. Any of the observations, made hereinabove, shall not be taken as an expression of opinion, on the merits of the case, as these observations, are confined, rt only, to the disposal of the present bail application.
( Virender Singh ) Judge August 19, 2023 ( naveen ) ::: Downloaded on - 19/08/2023 20:35:05 :::CIS