-. ` EE el I, IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI TUESDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF APRIL ```< TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE :PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE I MALLIKARJUNA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 3804 OF 2025 Betwee n : ` [3369] / Cherukula Venkata Krishna Reddy, S/o Srinivasa Reddy, 24 years, Hindu, Caste Reddy, R/o 4th Lane, Jakeer Hussain Nagar, Mani Hotel Centre, Old Guntur. Petitioner/Accused-A4 AND The State ofAndhra Pradesh, through s.H.O., Inspector of Proh. & Excise Station, Guntur-lI, Guntur District Rep by Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh At Amaravati. Respondent/Complainant Petition under sections 480 & 483 of BNSS (Old Sections 437 & 439 of Cr.P.C), praying that in the circumstances stated in the affI-davit filed in support Of the Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the Petitioner/A4 on bail in crime No.25/2025 of ProhI-bitiOn & Excise, Guntur-Il, Guntur District. The petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the petitl-on and the grounds filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of srI' SRIKANTH MATHINGI, Advocate for the petitioner and of PUBLIC PROSECUTOR for the Respondent and the court made the following,I APHCO10177342025 E#'E IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATl (special origI-nal Jurjsdictjon) . . `l-\/-|1 I THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE T MALLfKARJUNA ^L..____ !Blna±±!4±±EIlmN NO.-3804,,n9E [3369] TUESDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF APRIL __----_I.'l TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE _..____ PRESENT Between.- cherukula venkata Krishna Reddy ...PETITIONER/ACCUSED A LIL AND i+;~d;;uhlL-Vl A"u"ra ,,,RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT counsel for the petitI-Oner/accused.- 1.SRIKANTH MATHINGI counsel for the Respondent/complainant.I 1.PuBLIC PROSECUTOR The court made the foIIowI-ng Order.- Thl's criml®nal petI'tI'On under SectI'OnS 480 and 483 of the BNSS, has been fI-led by the petI-tI'Oner herein/A4, seeking regular ba" I-n CrI-me No.25 of 2025 of proh,-bition and Excl'se statI'On, Guntur-M regI'Stered for the offences punt-Shable under sectl-ons 8(c) read with 21 (C) and 20(B)(jl')(A) of the NDPS, Act. 2. Brl-effacts of the case are that, on 18.02.2025, on receipt of credl'ble I-nformatjon, the prohibition and Excise Inspector, along wl-th hI-S Staff and med,-ators, rushed {o Empty sl'te located at Rl-ght sl.de of venkateswara swamy Temple, Brundavan Gardens and observed two male persons. on seeing them, they perturbed and trI-ed to skulk away, on sLISPl-Cl'On, the poll'ce caught hold them and enqulre± them I-n the presence of The state ofAndhra + 2 J| mediators after duly complied the procedure, they seized 1.25 grams of Meth from the possession Of A4 and seized 1.27 grams of Meth from the possession Of A5 admitted the guilt Of Offence. Their confess-Ion leads to recovery Of total 8.15 grams of Meth (total 9.42 grams of Meth) in Seven Plastic zip lock cover from the possession of the accused and also 1 kg of dry ganja,-9 smart phones, one brown colour paper cover containing electronic weighing machine linix note book, -one card board box conta'lning one glass hookah pipe, one empty glass vessel, two empty plastic bottles and four plastic covers containing small covers and one Honda Activa 5G two wheeler bearing Chasis No.ME4JF50AGJT 311574 under cover Of med'latOrnama, arrested the accused and remanded to judicial custody. 3. Learned COunSel for the Petitioner Submits that the total quantity of coritraband said to be seized from the possession of the petitioner herein is 1.27 grams Of \\MethJ' (Metamfetamine) drug and it does not come under the definition of commercial quantity. Moreover, the Petitioner here'ln Was arrested On 18.02.2025 and since then he was languishing in jail. 4. On the Other hand, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor has not disputed the correctness of the said subm.lss'lon of learned counsel for e± u J, 3 f~ the petitioner and opposed the prayer of the petitioner on the ground that investigation in the present crime is not completed. 5. Heard. Perused the record. 6. The contenti`On Of the learned COunSel for the Petitioner iS that even according to the case of the prosecution, the contraband alleged to be seized is not of commercial quantity. In support of the said contention, the petitioner counsel placed reliance on Section 2(viia) of the NDPS Act which reads aS follows: (viia) "commercial quantity'',_ in re/ation i? narcot'lc drugs and psychotropic substances, means any quantity greater than the quantity specified by the Centra/ Government by notification in the Official Gazette . '' 7. Learned counsel for t:he Petitioner also placed reliance on the notification specifying small quantity and commercial quantity. "A peruSa/ Of the above definition Of_ C?mmerCia/. quantity would show that in re/atiop to Nprco.tic Dru_gs p.nd -psych6tropic substances{ a_ny quantity vyhiFh !S greater fha.n _ tf;e quantity specified by the Central. _G9V.£rnn]_:Pt Py notifi;ation in the officia/ gazette wou/d fall within the definition of commercia/ quantity. The relevant portion of the chart/table which enumerates Various _p_arcoFic drugs__ and psychotropic substances ard a.lso speci.fi.e5 th.e qu_Entity On. account of which either the drug would be less than small quantity or between smal/ quartity .a.nd c_on!m.ercia/ quantity or -commErcia/ quantity, is .reproduced herein below: Notification s f:i efnerc;smea l#haentiptyJ:::sCcoomnfme:rrecfa I bO;ucainaf:%6s (vi i_a) and (xxiii-a) of sect'lon Z of N_arc_ofi_c. Drugs_ and PsycholroP-lC _ substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985) and in supersession of Ministry of FinanF_e, DepartT3nt Of Revenue Notification S.O. 527(Ej dated ldh Ju/y, 199_6, except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, the Centra/ Government hereby SPeCifieS the quantity mentioned . in E= i= 4 Jr. co/umns 5 and 6 of the Table be/ow, in re/ation to the narcotic drug or psychotropic substance mentioned in the corresponding entry in co/umns 2 to 4 of the said Tab/e, as the sma// quantity and commercia/ quantity respectively for the purposes of the said clauses of that Section. S.No Name of Narcotic Other non Chemica / Sma/I Commercia I Drug and Psychotropic -` .proprietar > name Quantity (in Substances(International non~proprietaryname(INN) y name quantity (ingm,) gm./kg.) j 2 i 4 i- 6 160 METAMFETAMINE 2gm 50gm 8. A conjoint reading of Section 2(viia) of NDPS Act and the table would show that the quantity more than 50 grams of Metamfetamine would be considered to be commercial quantity. In view of the ,same, this court finds force in the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner and it is also not disputed by the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor. 9. The petitioner 'was arrested on 18.02.2025 and since then he is in jail. The quantity of Metamfetamine allegedly seizad from the possession of the petitione+ is 1.27 grams, which js non-commercial quantity. since the petitioner is having permanent abode at Guntur and in view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, request of the petitioner can be Considered for bail. 10. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed. The petitioner shall be released on bail on his executing a personal bond for cG6f3# &` 5 ~/ Rs.10,000/-(Rupees Ten Thousand only) with two sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judicial Magistrate of First Class for Prohibition & Excise, Guntur. On release, the petitioner shall appear before the Station House Officer concerned, once in a fortnight, for a period of two (2) months. The petitioner shall not hamper the investigation and tamper with the prosecution witnesses. Sd/-P.U.V. BHASKAR.RAG ASS!STj^f`NT R //TRUE COPY// !STRAgR SECTION OFFICER To, 1. The Special Judicial I Class Magistrate for Prohibition & Excise, Guntur 2. The Superintendent, District Jail, Guntur District 3. The Station House Officer, Prohibition & Excise, Guntur-ll, Guntur - 4 Dis±rfet One CC to SRI. SRIKANTH MATHINGI Advocate [OPUC] ct Two,cos to jublic Prosecutor, High Court of AP [OUT] a. One spare copy KJ ---_- ;,'l vldi# / fro iE 23 APR'Zu25 HIGH COURT TMR,J DATE D : 22/04/2025 BAIL ORDER CRLP.No.3804 of 2025 ALLOWED