Masud Mandal v. State Of West Bengal

27.05.2021 Court No.28 Item No. 25 CP CRM 3725 of 2021 (Via video Conference) In Re:- An application for anticipatory bail under section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure;

And In Re : Masud Mandal Petitioner Mr. Kaushik Choudhury For the Petitioner Mr. Rana Mukherjee Ms. Faria Hossain Mr. N. P. Agarwal For the State Apprehending arrest in connection with Balurghat Police Station Case No. 378 of 2020 dated 01.10.2020 under sections 21(c)/22(c)/23(c)/25/27A/28/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the present application has been preferred.

Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has been falsely implicated. There was no recovery of any contraband substance from the possession of the petitioner and his name has transpired on the basis of a statement of a coaccused person. He further submits that co-accused person similarly situated with the petitioner has already been granted anticipatory bail on December 16, 2020 in an application being CRM 10083 of 2020.

Mr. Mukherjee, learned advocate appearing for the State, could not dispute the fact that there was no recovery of any contraband substance from the possession of the petitioner. He informs the court that upon completion of investigation chargesheet has been filed.

Prima facie, it appears that the petitioner's name has transpired on the basis of a statement of a co-accused person and there had been no recovery of any contraband substances from the possession of the petitioner. It further appears that a coaccused person similarly situated had already been granted anticipatory bail by a coordinate bench of this court. In the said conspectus, we are of the opinion that custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not warranted. Accordingly, we direct that in the event of arrest the petitioner, namely, Masud Mandal, shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer and subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The application for anticipatory bail, being CRM No. 3725 of 2021 is, thus, disposed of.

All parties shall act on the server copies of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. (Shampa Sarkar, J.) (Tapabrata Chakraborty, J.)