Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
Section 439—Regular bail—Recovery of heroin—Case registered under Sections 8(c), 21(c), 23(c) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act—Insofar as incriminating material in the form of WhatsApp chats which have allegedly been retrieved from the mobile of the petitioner are concerned, the probative value of the same shall be tested during trial—At this stage of considering the bail application of petitioner, the same cannot be treated as sufficient material to establish a link between petitioner and other co-accused from whom the contraband has been recovered, more particularly, when the recovery of heroin is from the co-accused—Though recovery of contraband (heroin) from co-accused is of commercial quantity but since no recovery has been made from petitioner and there is no material to link the said commercial quantity recovered from the co-accused to the petitioner, except the statement of another co-accused, which is per se not admissible, the rigours of Section 37 of the NDPS Act do not apply—On the basis of so-called incriminating material relied upon by respondent/NCB against petitioner, there is a reasonable ground to believe that accused is not guilty of alleged offence—Nothing has been pointed out to show that petitioner has been involved in any other case and antecedents of petitioner being clean—Petitioner has made out a case for grant of regular bail—Application allowed.
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