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State by Narcotics Control Bureau vs Pallulabid Ahamad Arimutta & Ors.

SLP(Crl) · 2022 INSC 26Decided 10 Jan 2022
SLP(Crl) No. 242 of 2022

Background

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru, had arrested several persons in two connected drug-trafficking cases after seizing large quantities of hashish, amphetamine, cocaine and methamphetamine linked to attempts to smuggle drugs to Doha via Bengaluru airport. The Karnataka High Court granted bail to most of the accused, and the NCB approached the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of that bail across six tagged petitions decided together.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that except for one respondent, none of the accused was found in possession of a "commercial quantity" of drugs, and the only evidence against most of them was confessional statements recorded under Section 67 of the NDPS Act: statements the Court's earlier ruling in Tofan Singh v. State of Tamil Nadu had already declared inadmissible in an NDPS trial. Since the strict bail bar under Section 37 of the NDPS Act was not clearly attracted on the available material, the Court refused to disturb the bail granted to most respondents. However, it took a different view of respondent Mohammed Afzal, against whom substantial commercial quantities of drugs were actually recovered from his rented premises and a co-accused's bag found in his possession: his bail could not stand on parity with the others, so the Court cancelled his bail and directed him to surrender within two weeks.

Lesson Learnt

A confession made to NCB/police officers under Section 67 of the NDPS Act cannot by itself be used to keep a person in jail or to overturn a bail order: actual recovery of commercial-quantity contraband, not just a co-accused's statement, is what triggers the stringent bail conditions under the NDPS Act.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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