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Union of India vs. Ajay Kumar Singh @ Pappu (Criminal Appeal arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 2351 of 2023)

SLP (Crl.) · 2023 INSC 312Decided 28 Mar 2023
SLP (Crl.) No. 2351 of 2023
V. Ramasubramanian · Pankaj Mithal

Background

Acting on intelligence, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Varanasi, intercepted a truck in January 2021 carrying about 3,971.6 kg of ganja (a commercial quantity), driven by Om Prakash Yadav with helper Amit Yadav. Both admitted the truck had been loaded and handed to them by associates of the respondent, Ajay Kumar Singh @ Pappu, who had evaded arrest for over a year before being caught in Raipur. The Allahabad High Court granted Singh bail, largely because the driver and helper had already been released on bail, and the Union of India challenged this before the Supreme Court, which meanwhile suspended the bail order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the driver and helper were merely vicarious agents, while the material on record (including the driver's own affidavit) showed the respondent was the alleged kingpin and organiser of the ganja trafficking operation, with a history of similar offences pending against him, making his position materially different from the other two accused. The Court found the High Court had overlooked Section 37 of the NDPS Act, which bars bail for commercial-quantity offences unless the prosecutor is heard and the court records satisfaction that there are reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and unlikely to reoffend on bail. Since no such finding had been recorded and the respondent's antecedents suggested he was a repeat offender, the High Court's bail order was set aside and the appeal was allowed.

Lesson Learnt

In NDPS cases involving commercial quantities of drugs, bail cannot be granted merely because co-accused with lesser or subordinate roles were released. Courts must independently record the mandatory "twin conditions" satisfaction under Section 37 before granting bail to an alleged kingpin or principal offender.

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

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