lN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATl TUESDAY, THE SECOND DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE :PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 7309 OF 2025 Betwee n : Kocho Gopal, S/o Angu, Aged 40 years, R/o Mabha Village, Mekavaram Panchayat, Muchangiputtu Mandal, AIluri Seetramaraju District. .... Petitioner/Accused No.3 AND The State ofAndhra Pradesh, Rep by its SHO I Town P.S., Vizianagaram, A through the public prosecutor, High Court ofAP. .... Respondent/Complainan± Petition under Section 480 & 483 of BNSS is filed, praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the petitioner/A3 on regular bail in NDPS S.C.No. 12/2025 on the file of the Special Judge for Trial of Cases under NDPS Act-cum-I Additional District and Sessions Judge, Vizianagaram. The petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the petition and the affidavit filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of SRI G SAi NARAYANA RAO Advocate for the Petitioner, Assistant Public Prosecutor for the respondent and the Court made the following. ORDER The court made the foJlowl-ng.I QBQEB .. Dr. yLR, J crI.p:Nno+-^7J3P: :f-2-0'2-5 a • Dated o2-09.2025 '+_ \ The crlmJnal Pet,{IOn has been fl'ed under sectlons 437 and 439 of the code of cnmJnal Procedure, 1973 (for brevJty fthe Cr p c ')/ sect,ons 480 and 483 of the BharatJya Nagar,k suraksha sanhlta, 2023 (for brevlty t{he BNSSJ), seeklng to enlarge the petJ[IOner/Accused No 3 on ball In Cr No 278 of2022 of I Town pollce s{atJOn, VIz,anagaram DJStr,c{, reglstered agalns{ the pe{It,Oner/Accused No 3 hereln for the offences punlshable Llnder Sec{IOn 8 (c) \ read wJth 20(b)(H)(C) of the NarcotJC Drugs and psychotroplc substances Act, 1985 (for brevity tthe NDPS ActJ). 2 The case of the prosecution ls {ha{on26 052022, on receIPtOfcred,ble lnformat[on that two persons were staylng ln Room No 907 of Lakshml Ka'a Lodge, Ra,Iway s{atJOn Road, vlzlanagaram, the sub-Inspector of police, I Town pollce statJOn, VIzlanagaram, along wJth hIS staff and med,ators, apprehended A 1 an.d A2 Upon checklng thelr bags, 9 cannabls packets welghlng 33 250 Kgs were recovered A 1 and A 2 confessed that A 3 had g,yen them the ganJa fior transpor{a{IOn from s Kota to Kolkata The po'JCe selzed the ganJa, lJfted samples, and regIStered the medlatorsJ report as :ere:IOpt27o8fl:onf2o2r:ar+:nnve::I_g_ail:n During the lnVestlg:tI::l::: ::So2re2PoO2:, :€n receIPt of lnforen`atlon regardlng A 3Js movement at the collector office, vfz[anagaram, the lnvestlgatfng offlcer apprehended hlm A 3 confessed that _i.I __- •f3 =| qu Dr. YLR, J crl.p.No.7369'of 2025 Dated 02.09.2025 he is a native of Araku and procured 'ganja for A.1 and A.2 for their consumption and sale. ln the month of April, A.1 and A.2 collected ganja from him in s.Kota to transport to Kolkata. They were apprehended at a lodge in Vizianagaram due to a train delay. Subsequently, A.3 absconded by switching off his mobile but was later apprehended in Vizianagaram, 3. Sri. G. Sai Narayana Rao, the learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner is innocent of the alleged offence and has been falsely \ implicated by the police. lt is further submitted that the petitioner is the sole earning member of the family and, therefore, his incarceration would cause undue hardship to his dependents. The petitioner undertakes to strictly adhere to any conditions that may be imposed by this Court.a ln light of the foregoing submissions, learned counsel prays that the present pet-ltion be allowed in the interest of justice. 4. Percor,fra, Ms.P.Akhila Naidu, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor vehemently opposed the grant of bail to the petitioner, submitting that the |lnvestigation is still undervay and several material Witnesses remain tO be examined. It is contended that if the petitioner is released on bail at this Stage, there is a strong likelihood that he may abscond, thereby hampering the ongoing investigation and evading the process of law. ln view of the foregoing submissions, it is urged that the petition be d'lsmissed. I_r5=--as*'. 4 •L{`{ •Dr. YLR, J Crl.P.No.7309 of 2025 5 Heard tiel learned counse"or the petI{lOner and the learnDeo:edAOs2s:9st2aOn2; publI-C Prosecutor. perused the record. 6 As seen from the record, the petltloner/Accused No3 was allegedly Indulged ln dea'lng wlth 33 250 kgs of qanJa, Whlch IS a commercla' quantlty The role of the pe{I'tl'Oner/Accused No 3 came out based on the confesslon of Accused Mos 1 and 2 Accused Mos 1 and 2 were already enlarged on ball by the learned Trial court. The petI'tl'Oner has been langujshjng I-n ja" since 29 03 2025 Nearly for the past 157 days he has been ln JudICJa' custody on \ o8112023, the charge sheet was fIIed Jn th,s case showlng the petltloner/Accused No 3 as abscondJng The petltJOner/Accused No 3 ls a resldent of Mabha vlllage, Mekavaram panchaya{, Muchanglputtu MandaI, AN:nRa.D:I:t^ri:i: :_he material ponlon onhe investlgatIOn IS co::I-:;:a.l":III'utahle wl'tnesses of the prosecution are offlcI'al witnesses. Hence, the questI'On of the petltloner lnfluenclng or threatenJng the wltnesses or hamperlng the investl-gatjon may not arise. 7 consfderlng the perlod of deten{IOn undergone by the petitI|Oner/Accused No 3 I'n Judl'cI'al custody for the past 157 days, the nature and gravity of a'Iegatl'ons levelled agaI'nSt the petltlOner, and his alleged role played I|n the case, th,'s court l's I'nCII'ned to enlarge the petl'tI|Oner on ba" with the following stringent condl-tjons.- 5 Dr-YLR, I CrI.P.No.7309 of 2025 Dated 02.09.2O25 i. The petitioner/Accused No.3 shall be enlarged on bail subject to he executing a bond for a sum of Rs.25,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Thousand only), with two sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judge for Trial of Cases under NDPS Act-Cum-I Additional District and Sessions Judge, Vizianagaram. ii. The petitioner/Accused No.3 shall appear before the learned Trial Court on each and every adjournment. \ iii. The petitioner/Accused No.3 shall not leave the limI-tS Of the District without prior permission from the learned Trial Court. iv. The petitioner/Accused No.3 shall not commitor indulge in commission Of any Offence in future. v. The petitioner/Accused No.3 shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer. 8. Accordingly, the criminal petition is allowed. sD/-G.HE-LANAIDU //TRUE COPY// ASS:SETcAT:OT#/::::CTERRAR Tot I 1. The Special Judge for Trial of Cases under NDPS Act-Gum-I AddI-tiOnal DI-Strict and Sessions Judge, vI-Zjanagaram. 2. The SuperI-ntendent, Visakhapatnam central JaI-I. 3. The SHO, I Town p.s., vizianagaram. 4- One CC to SRl. G SAI NARAYANA I,An Arl`,^^_+A r^lll I^1 HIGH COURT DR.YLR, J DATED:02/09/2025 ` BAIL ORDER CRLP.No.7309 of 2025 ALLOWED