Jayanta Barman And ANR v. The State Of West Bengal

February 16, 2026 34 ARDR

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

CIRCUIT BENCH AT JALPAIGURI CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS JURISDICTION CRM (NDPS) 557 of 2025 In Re : An application for bail under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with Bagdogra Police Station case no. 134 of 2025 dated 29/4/2025 under Sections 21(c)/23(c)/29 of the NDPS Act..

And In Re :

Jayanta Barman & anr.

... Petitioners.

Adv. Hillol Saha Poddar, Adv. Mousumi Das, ... for the Petitioner.

Adv. Tapan Bhattacharjee, Adv. Biswarup Roy, ...for the State.

The petitioners are in custody for about 300 days and pray for bail primarily on the ground that no recovery has been made from them. It transpires from the statement of the co accused that they were about to deliver the consignment to the petitioners when they were apprehended. Also, the time of appearance of the gazetted officer in the complaint vis-a-vis the seizure list is contradictory. Learned counsel for the State opposes the prayer. It appears from the written complaint that the co accused delivered the consignment of contraband article to the petitioners and were waiting for payment of the same when they were apprehended. Contraband substance of commercial quantity has been recovered from the joint possession of the petitioner and the co accused. It is a fact that there is discrepancy between the time of seizure of the contraband and presence of the gazetted officer at the

spot. Such discrepancy shall be dealt with at the appropriate stage of trial. In view of statutory restrictions laid down under Section 37 of the NDPS Act, prayer for bail is rejected at this stage. CRM (NDPS) 557 of 2025 is disposed of.

Case Diary be returned.

Urgent certified website copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties, upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Suvra Ghosh, J.)