Munna Prasad @ Munna Bhagat And ANR v. State Of West Bengal And ANR

07.09.2022 Sl. No.8 akd [Rejected] C. R. M. (NDPS) 1016 of 2022 In Re: An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure filed on 01.09.2022 in connection with Bizpur Police Station Case No. 583 of 2021 dated 22.11.2021 under Sections 21(c)/29 of the NDPS Act. (NDPS Case No.102 of 2021) And In Re: Munna Prasad @ Munna Bhagat & Anr.

... ... Petitioners Mr. Dipankar Guha Mr. S. D. Roy ... ... for the petitioners Mr. Sudip Ghosh Mr. Apurba Kumar Datta ... ... for the State It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that they are in custody for about 270 days. It is further submitted recovery was not supported by independent witnesses.

Learned advocate appearing for the State opposes the prayer for bail.

We have considered the materials on record. Statements of official witnesses and seizure memo prima facie establish recovery of narcotic substance i.e. 5 kgs. of codeine mixture, which is above commercial quantity from the joint possession of the petitioners. Nonjoining of independent witnesses per se does not invalidate recovery. Its impact has to be seen in the light of the evidence led during trial. In view of the aforesaid fact and the statutory restrictions under Section 37 of the NDPS Act, we are not inclined to grant bail to the petitioners. The application for bail is thus rejected.

(Ajay Kumar Gupta, J.) (Joymalya Bagchi, J.)