IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI TUESDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE .PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO ' CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 11068 OF 2025 ■ti , |Sa® a ,1 a V^- ..■s&’l /f \ $ A' 5j Between: Vinjavarapu Somanadh, S/o SrinivasaRao Aged About 27 Years 5 Mallikarjuna Puram, Inner Ring Road, Guntur Rural th Line ...Petitioner/1®* Accused AND The State of Andhra Pradesh Amaravati, through Inspector of Police, Nallapadu, Guntur rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P. ... Respondent/Complainant Petition under Sections 480 & 483 of BNSS, praying that in the circumstances stated in the memorandum of grounds filed in support of the Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the petitioner/1 Accused on bail in Connection with Crime No.592/2025 dated 06.06.2025 the file of Nallapadu Police Station, Guntur. st on The Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Petition and the memorandum of grounds filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of SRI PILLI MRUTHYUMJAYUDU Advocate for and of PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, for the Respondent, following the Petitioner,' the Court made the APHC010571472025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) [3521] TUESDAY,THE FOURTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 11068/2025 Between: 1.VINJAVARAPU SOMANADH, S/0 SRINIVASARAO AGED ABOUT 27 YEARS 5TH LINE MALLIKARJUNAPURAM, INNER RING ROAD GUNTUR RURAL ...PETITIONER/ACCUSED AND 1.THE STATE OF ANDHRAPRADESH, rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P. Amaravati, through Inspector of Police, Nallapadu, Guntur ...RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT Counsel for the Petitioner/accused: 1.PILLI MRUTHYUMJAYUDU Counsel for the Respondent/complainant: 1. PUBLIC PROSECUTOR The Court made the following: ORDER: This criminal petition has been filed, under Sections 480 and 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023\ seeking to enlarge the petitioner- accused No.1 on bail in Crime No.592 of 2025 of Nallapadu Police Station, the BNSS 2 Guntur District, registered for the offence punishable under Section 8 (c) read with Section 21 (c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985^, on the allegation of the petitioner had indulged in dealing with 18 Grams of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner/Accused No.1 and learned 2. Assistant Public Prosecutor. 3. This Court in Crl.P.No.10459 of 2025 granted bail to Accused No.2. The case of the Petitioner/Accused No.1 is also standing on the similar footing of the Accused No.2 At the time of arrest of accused Nos.1 and 2, the provisions of Section / 50 of the NDPS Act with respect to search and seizure in the presence of either gazetted officer or magistrate was not complied with. No reason, let alone a plausible or convincing reason, has been assigned for not securing the presence of a gazetted officer at the time of conducting personal search of the petitioner. It is not the case of the investigating officer that the alleged place of detention of the offence is in a remote, deserted or otherwise 4. inaccessible location. The investigating officer also failed to produce the petitioner immediately before learned magistrate concerned after search and seizure. The alleged place of detention is situated within the city limits of Guntur, where a sufficient number of gazetted officers and magistrates, whether or executive or judicial side, are readily available. The provisions of r the NDPS Act are draconian in nature. Therefore, they have to be interpreted ^the NDPS Act 3 in stricto sensu. In certain circumstances, non-compliance of the provisions of Section 50 of 'the NDPS Act', vitiates the entire case. So far, five witnesses are examined. They are all official witnesses. Material portion of investigation « insofar as the alleged role played by the petitioner is concerned is completed. The petitioner is permanent resident of Guntur. He has got fixed abode. Period for custodial interrogation is also completed. Of course, the from where accused No. 1 had allegedly procured the commercial quantity of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine from accused No. 3, is to be ascertained. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the nature and gravity of allegations levelled against the Petitioner/Accused No. 1, this Court is inclined to enlarge him on bail with the following stringent conditions: (i) The Petitioner/Accused No.1 shall be enlarged on bail subject to his executing a bond for a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only) with two sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of learned Judicial I Class Magistrate & Special Mobile Magistrate, Guntur; (ii) The Petitioner/Accused No.1 shall not cause any threat, inducement or promise to the prosecution witnesses; (iii) The Petitioner/Accused No.1 shall surrender his passport, if any, to the investigating officer. If he claims that he does not have passport, he shall submit an affidavit to that effect to the Investigating Officer; (iv) The Petitioner/Accused No.1 shall not leave the limits of State of Andhra Pradesh without the express permission from the Station House Officer concerned; and (v) The Petitioner/Accused No.1 shall appear before the source 5. It , 4 Station House Officer concerned on every Saturday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. till filing of charge sheet. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed. 6. SD/.U.SRI DEVI DEPUTY REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER I To. 1. The Judicial First Class Magistrate & Special Mobile Magistrate Guntur District Guntur, 2. The Superintendent, District Jaii, Guntur, Guntur District 3. The Station House Officer, Naiiapadu Poiice Station , Guntur District 4. One CC to SRi. PILLi MRUTHYUMJAYUDU Advocate [OPUC] 5. Two CCS to PUBLiC PROSECUTOR, High Court of Andhra [OUT] Pradesh 6. One spare copy PSR / r HIGH COURT i i DR.YLR,J DATED:04/11/2025 / BAIL ORDER CRLP.No.11068 of 2025 / ALLOWED