IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARA FRIDAY,-THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF AUGUS TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE :PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA R CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 7751 OF 2025 Between : tD .-#t¥f 1. Upendra Swain, @ Jotiya, S/o Late Gobardhan Swain, Age 24 years, Purba Sahi, Naikanipalli village, Kodala PS, Ganjam District, Odisha state- '\ 2. Gyaneswar Sethy @ Shankar, S/o Sudarsan Sethy, Age 20 years, Gouda Sahi, Kodala village, Ganjam District, Odisha state. Petitioners/Accused Al and A2 AND The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by Public Prosecutor, High Court at Amaravati through ltchapuram Town, Srikakulam District Respondent Petition under Section 480 & 483 of BNSS., is filed praying that in the circumstances stated in the grounds filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the Petitioners i.e A.1 and A. 2 on Regular bail in Crime No.16 of 2025,ltchapuram Town, Srikakulam District dated 22/02/2025. The petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Petition and the affidavit filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of Sri. B.SUDHAKAR KUMAR, Advocate for the Petitioners and of PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, for the Respondent; The Court made the following ORDER: Dr. YLR, J Crl.P.No.7751 of 2025 Dated 22.08.2O25 The Court made the following.- ORDER.. The Criml-nat Petition has been filed under sections 437 and 439 of the code of crl-minaI Procedure,1973 (for brevl-ty £the cr.p.c.J)/ sections 480 and 483 of the Bharatlya Nagarlk Suraksha sanhlta, 2023 (for brevity tthe BNSSJ), seeklng to enlarge the petltIOnerS/Accused Nos.1 and 2 on bail I'n Cr.No.16 of 2025 of ltchapuram Town polI'Ce Station, srjkakulam DI'StrjCt, registered a`gainst the petl-tioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 herein for A the offences punishable under section 20 (b) (ii)(c), read wI-th 8 (c) of the NarcotI'C Drugs and psychotropI'C Substances Act, 1985 (for brevity {the NDPS Act'). 2. The case of the prosecution is that on 22.02.2025 at about 18:30 hours, on receipt of credible I|nfOrmatI'On regardl'ng illegal possession and transportatI-On Of ganja, the Sub-Inspector of polI'Ce, Itchapuram Town police station, along wI-th his staff and mediators, rushed to the Railway station, Itchapuram. The police apprehended Accused Nos.1 and 2 whI'le they were in possession of and transporting ganja. lt js alleged that Accused Nos.1 and 2 had collected the ganja from Accused No.3 and were instructed by him to deliverutfo unknown persons at surat. The poII'Ce seized a total of 31.110 Kgs of ganja and two probjle phones from their possession under the cover of the mediatorsJ report. r= Dr. YLR, J Crl.P.No.7751 of 2025 Dated 22.08.2025 3. Sri B.Sudhakar Kumar, the learned counsel for the petitioners c-ontend that the petitioners are innocent of the alleged offence and have been falsely implicated by the police. lt is further submitted that the petitioners are the sole earning members of the family and, therefore, their incarceration would cause -undue hardship to their dependents. The petitioners undertake to strictly adhere to any conditions that may be imposed by this Court. ln light of the foregoing submissions, learned counsel prays that t`he present petition be allowed in the interest of justice. a 4. Per confra, Ms.P.Akhila Naidu, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor vehemently opposed the grant of bail to the petitioners, submitting that the investigation is still undervay and several material witnesses remain to be examined. lt is contended that if the petitioners are released on bail at this stage, there is a strong likelihood that they 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 dismissed. 5. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor, LPerused the record. 6. As seen from the record, the petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 were allegedly indulged in dealing with 31.110 kgs of ganja, which is a I;.i .-a_e--...-. 4 Dr. YLR, J CrI.P.No.7751 of 2025 Dated 22.08.2025 commercial quantity. The petitioners have been languishing in jail since 22.02.2025. Nearly for the past 182 days they have been in judicial custody. The petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 are the residents of Kodala Village, Ganjam District, Odisha State. The material portion of the investigation is completed. All the witnesses of the prosecution are official witnesses. Hence, the question of the petitioners influencing or threatening the witnesses or hampering the investigation may not arise, 7. The learned Assistant Public Prosecutor submits that there are no b adverse antecedents against the petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2, A report was filed before the learned Court below by the concerned Public Prosecutor seeking an extension of the judicial custody of the petitioners, but no orders were passed regarding the extension of their remand. 8. Section 36A(4) of lthe NDPS Act' states that if the investigation is not completed within 180 days, the petitioners/Accused Nos.1 land 2 has an indefeasible right to bail, unless the Special Court extends the period up to one year on the report of the Public Prosecutor, indicating the progress of the investigation and specific reasons for the detention of the accused beyond the initial period. 9. Considering the period of detention undergone by the petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 in judicial custody for the past 182 days, the nature and gravity of allegations levelled against the petitioners, and \=/ -9 t` Dr. YLR, I CrI.P.No.7751 of 2025 Dated 22.08.2025 their alleged role played in the case, this court is inclined to enlarge the petitioners on bail with the following stringent conditions: i. The petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 shall be enlarged on bail subject to they executing a bond for a sum of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only), each with two sureties each for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the learned Judicial Magistrate of First Class, ltchapuram. ii. The petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 shall appear b before the Station House Officer concerned on every Saturday in between 10:00 am and 05:00 pm, till cognizance is taken by the learned the Trial Court. iii. The petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 shall not leave the limits of the District without prior permission from the Station House Officer concerned. iv. The petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 shall notcommit or indulge in commission of any offence in future. v. The petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 shall cooperate with the investigating officer in further investigation of the case and shall make themselves available for interrogation by the investigating officer as and when required. ®|._ . -`-- _.._i €j-I--ll__---j Dr. YLR, I Crl.P.No.7751 of 2025 Dated 22.08.2O25 vi. The petitioners/Accused Nos.1 and 2 shall not, directly i 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. 10. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition -ls allowed. //TRUE COPY// To, L~~--.--` sD/-G.HELANAIDU ASSISTANT RLZBTRAR sECTiON OFFICER 1. The Judicial Magistrate of First Class at lchapuram. 2. The Superintendent, DI'StriCt Jail, SrI'kakulam. 3. The Station House Officer, Itchapuram Town Police Station, Srikakulam District 4. One CC to Sri. B.SUDHAKAR KUMAR, Advocate [OPUC] 5. Two CCs to PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati. [ouT] 6. One spare copy JSS --_,J l i-9 / I.I.I f' HIGH COURT DR.YLR, J '\ D DATED:22/08/2025 BAIL ORDER CRLP.No.7751 of 2025 ALLOWED *gr € 6J; a 9 Au[l 7_ti# fagr,n qu H T ys-pr*<Ly ,