HC grants bail to 6 arrested by ATS in 146 kg MD seizure case
Bombay High Court grants bail to 6 ATS-arrested in 146 kg Mephedrone case due to inordinate delay in NDPS Act procedures, citing Supreme Court mandate.
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday granted bail to six persons arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection with the seizure of 146 kg of synthetic stimulant, Mephedrone, in September 2019. A single judge bench of justice Manish Pitale granted bail to the six accused primarily on account of “inordinate delay in moving an application under Section 52-A of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act for sampling and certification before the competent Magistrate. “
The judge said the inordinate delay of three years “clearly violated the mandate” of the Supreme Court judgement in the Mohanlal Patidar vs Union of India case in which the apex court has held that the requirement of section 52-A of the NDPS Act is mandatory.
Justice Pitale also considered the fact that all six accused were arrested in September 2019 and have, thus, already suffered pre-trial incarceration for around five years and there was “nothing to indicate that the trial would be completed in a reasonable period of time.”
The ATS had registered the crime on September 10, 2019, and on the same day, arrested three of the accused - Abdul Razak Kadar Shaikh, Suleman Johar Shaikh and Naresh Madan Maskar. The remaining three - Juber Lalmohammad Momin, Sardar Uttam Patil and Kais Kuresh Siddiqui were arrested a week later.
The accused had approached the high court with separate pleas after the special NDPS court rejected their bail pleas. They pointed out before the high court that the investigating agency had failed to adhere to the mandate of Section 52-A, which requires the investigator to move the competent magistrate for sampling of the seized bulk.
The high court accepted their claim after noticing that though the seizure was made in September 2019, the application was moved before the competent magistrate three years later – in December 2022, and, thus, there was inordinate delay in moving for sampling and ordered the six accused to be released on furnishing personal bonds of ₹50,000 each and one or two sureties in the same amount.