Punjab-Haryana High Court
Perdipt Chaudhary & Anr vs State Of Punjab on 4 July, 2016
Bench: Surya Kant, A.B. Chaudhari
HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
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CRM-M-6543-2016 (O&M)
Date of Decision: 04.07.2016
Perdipt Chaudhary & Anr. . . . . Petitioners
VS.
State of Punjab . . . . Respondent
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.B. CHAUDHARI
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1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
2. To be referred to the Reporters or not?
3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?
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Present:- Mr. RS Cheema, Senior Advocate with
Mr. Arshdeep Singh Cheema, Advocate for the petitioners
Ms. Reeta Kohli, Addl. AG Punjab with
Mr. Hanspal S Virk, AAG Punjab
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SURYA KANT, J.
(1) In this petition under Section 439 CrPC, the petitioners seek their enlargement on regular bail in the case FIR No.173 dated 18.09.2013 under Sections 22, 61 & 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 registered at Police Station Shambhu, District Patiala. (2) The two petitioners are son and father, respectively. Petitioner No.1 is the sole proprietor of pharmaceutical industry known as M/s Pioneer Laboratories having its factory premises at Rishi Nagar, outside Jundla Gate, Sector 16, Karnal. The firm was set up in the year 1999 and has been having valid licences issued by the drug authorities of State of Haryana. The firm has also been allocated quota of narcotic drugs by Central Bureau of Narcotics valid upto 31.12.2013. It is claimed 1 of 6 ::: Downloaded on - 06-07-2016 00:07:13 ::: CRM-M-6543-2016 -2- that the pharmaceutical unit has always strictly complied with the terms and conditions of licence as well as mandatory provisions of the NDPS Act and the Rules/Orders framed thereunder.
(3) The Punjab Police is said to have falsely implicated the petitioners in two cases registered under the NDPS Act/IPC i.e. (i) FIR No.173 dated 18.09.2013 under Section 22,61,85 of NDPS Act registered at Police Station Shambhu, District Patiala; and (ii) FIR No.129 dated 19.09.2013 under Sections 21,22,25,27-A,29,61, 85 NDPS Act and Sections 420,467,468,471,120-B IPC registered at Police Station Division No.6, Industrial Area, Ludhiana. Since the petitioners have separately applied for bail in both these cases, the facts of each case are being briefly noticed. (4) As per the allegations contained in the FIR No.173 dated 18.09.2013, the police party was patrolling and when it was present at Village Rajgarh at about 9.45 a.m., it received a secret information that Nitin Chhabra r/o Karnal who owns Krishna Medicine Store, Pindi Street, Ludhiana, is involved in the business of selling intoxicant tablets etc. in connivance with his brother Anil, and Amandeep Singh s/o Sukhdev Singh and Rachpal Singh. The informer further disclosed that Anil Chhabra r/o Karnal is in possession of huge quantity of intoxicant tablets and is waiting for his brother Nitin Chhabra, Amandeep and Rachpal Singh in the area of village Mehmadpur i.e. before entering the barrier on National Highway. On the basis of this information, Anil Kumar Chhabra was apprehended and out of the five plastic bags which he was carrying, Microlit intoxicant tablets were recovered in four bags while the 5th bag was full of maroon colour intoxicant capsules without any make. In total there were 2498 pouches of Microlit tablets (each pouch containing 100 tablets) and 478 pouches of maroon colour capsules (each pouch of 100 capsules) recovered from Anil Kumar Chhabra.
2 of 6 ::: Downloaded on - 06-07-2016 00:07:14 ::: CRM-M-6543-2016 -3- (5) On the basis of the disclosure statement of Anil Kumar Chhabra, Parveen Kumar, Rakesh Kumar etc. were also nominated as co-accused and arrest warrants were obtained against them from the Judicial Magistrate on 02.10.2013. Three of them were arrested and a huge quantity of (i) Spasmosip Plus capsules;
(ii) Parvon Forte capsules; (ii) Fancydrill syrup bottles (all banned drugs) were recovered from them. All these suspects are said to have disclosed that the maroon coloured capsules filled with synthetic drugs without any make were actually being manufactured in the pharmaceutical unit of first petitioner, namely, M/s Pioneer Laboratories at Karnal (Haryana).
(6) The petitioners were also thus nominated as co-accused and search warrants of the factory premises and their arrest warrants were applied and obtained from learned Judicial Magistrate, Rajpura on 05.10.2013. A Special Investigation Team headed by Superintendent of Police, Rajpura was constituted which conducted the raid and searched the factory premises of petitioner No.1 on 7th and 8th October, 2013. Huge quantity of intoxicant tablets, capsules and powder etc. including the burnt intoxicant powder is claimed to have been recovered from the factory premises.
(7) Petitioner No.2 owns a vehicle Innova car bearing regd.No.HR-45A- 1499 which was also lying parked in the factory premises of petitioner No.1. From the said vehicle, it is alleged that 1100 maroon coloured capsules without make and 470 capsules of Parvon Spas were recovered. As per the chemical report received from Forensic Science Laboratory, all the recovered material contains banned substances and are illicit drugs.
(8) The petitioners could neither be apprehended nor they surrendered, hence they were declared proclaimed offender on 24.04.2014. Regardless of that declaration, a learned Single Judge granted concession on 19.05.2014 and allowed 3 of 6 ::: Downloaded on - 06-07-2016 00:07:14 ::: CRM-M-6543-2016 -4- the petitioners to surrender before the trial court and furnish bail bonds whereupon they were to be admitted to interim bail. The petitioners, however, could not avail the benefit of that order as meanwhile their names surfaced in yet another NDPS case registered vide FIR No.129 dated 19.09.2013 PS Division No.6, Industrial Area, Ludhiana.
(9) The petitioners were finally apprehended on 01.05.2015 and are in custody since then.
(10) It was vehemently urged on behalf of the petitioners that (i) they have been falsely implicated as they refused to pay Rs.1 crore demanded by two persons Karan Singh and Sahab Singh on 05.10.2013 on behalf of the Punjab Police officers whom they have impleaded in person in CRM-M-42768-2013. They were threatened with consequences like false implication if the amount was not paid; (ii) the Punjab Police has got no territorial jurisdiction to implicate the petitioners in the subject case; (iii) the so-called search and seizure proceedings are farce and ex facie illegal; (iv) the Punjab Police is guilty of violating the mandatory procedure required to be followed; and (v) the records re: search warrants and arrest warrants were forged and fabricated.
(11) Learned State counsel refuted the petitioners' allegations and contended that they have no respect for law as they continued to abscond until arrested hence do not deserve the concession of bail. According to her, the petitioners are likely to flee from justice. She maintained that the search and seizure was carried out strictly in accordance with the prescribed procedure and the entire exercise has been duly videographed.
(12) Having heard learned counsel for the parties at a considerable length and after going through the record, we are satisfied that the first petitioner does not deserve the concession of bail at this stage. The contentions re: lack of jurisdiction 4 of 6 ::: Downloaded on - 06-07-2016 00:07:14 ::: CRM-M-6543-2016 -5- of Punjab Police, the credibility of the allegations made by the petitioners, the alleged forging or fabrication of record and the procedural lapses, if any, in the matter of conducting search and seizure have been dealt with by us in extenso in the order of even date passed in CRM-M-42768-2013 (Perdipt Chaudhary & Anr. Vs. State of Punjab & Ors.) while declining the petitioners' prayer for transfer of investigation to an outside agency.
(13) The first petitioner is admittedly the sole proprietor of pharmaceutical unit. As per the allegations, huge quantity of illicit drugs and intoxicant material manufactured in that factory has been recovered in the State of Punjab as well as from the factory premises during search and seizure. There are serious allegations of misuse of the controlled substance allocated for manufacturing life saving drugs. The rigors of Section 37(1)(b) are surely attracted against the first petitioner. The instant petition qua him is thus dismissed.
(14) As regard to petitioner No.2, admittedly he is not a partner or co- proprietor of the pharmaceutical unit. The only allegation against him is that Innova car owned by him was found parked in the factory premises and 1100 maroon coloured capsules without make and 470 capsules of Parvon Spas were recovered from that vehicle. There is no doubt that if the above-stated contraband is found to have been kept inside the vehicle to the knowledge or with the consent of second petitioner, then he too cannot wriggle out of the embargo created under Section 37(1)(b) of the Act. However, there is some material on record to suggest that petitioner No.2 does not know driving and has kept a driver. The vehicle was not at his residence, rather was parked in the factory of his son. It would be possible to form a definite view only after the evidence is led as to whether or not petitioner No.2 had informed knowledge of the contraband lying in his vehicle. At this stage, the applicability of Section 37(1)(b) of the Act thus becomes debatable.
5 of 6 ::: Downloaded on - 06-07-2016 00:07:14 ::: CRM-M-6543-2016 -6- Petitioner No.2 is stated to be an aged ailing senior citizen and does not maintain good health. He is in custody from last more than one year. The conclusion of trial is likely to take some time. Taking into consideration the totality of the circumstances and without expressing any views on merits, the instant petition qua petitioner No.2 is allowed. He is directed to be released on bail on furnishing bail bonds to the satisfaction of the concerned Judicial Magistrate at Patiala.
(Surya Kant) Judge 04.07.2016 (A.B. Chaudhari) vishal shonkar Judge ...
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