Rajpal Singh v. State Of West Bengal

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

CIRCUIT BENCH AT JALPAIGURI APPELLATE SIDE 01.03.2023. C.R.M. 879 of 2021 12/tkm In Re:- An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with Nagrakata P.S case no.91 of dated 13.9.2020 under sections 20(ii)(c)/25/29 IPC and In the matter of : Rajpal Singh ..... Petitioner Mr. Tapas Ghosh Mr. T Chowdhury Mr. N Paul ...for the Petitioner Mr. A S Chakraborty Mr. Sourav Ganguly Mr. Aniruddha Biswas ...for the State.

Petitioner is in custody for more than two years. He submits there is delay in trial. He prays for bail. Learned lawyer for the State opposes the bail prayer. We have considered the materials on record. Delay is due to abscondence of co-accused and cannot be attributed to the prosecution. There are ample materials to show involvement of the petitioner in transporting 283.4855 kgs of ganja .

In view of the aforesaid materials on record and statutory restriction under section 37 of the NDPs Act, we are not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner.

Accordingly, prayer for bail is rejected.

We request the trial court to take appropriate steps for declaring absconding accuseds as proclaimed offenders and proceed with the trial against the petitioner at the earliest. (Subhendu Samanta,J.) (Joymalya Bagchi, J.)