Page No.# 1/5 GAHC010052982025 2025:GAU-AS:5868 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : Bail Appln./736/2025 SHANKAR DEBNATH S/O TARANI KANTA DEBNATH, RESIDENT OF VILLAGE NOAGAON KEPRANPARA, PS RANIR BAZAR, PO RANIR BAZAR, DIST WEST TRIPURA TRIPURA, 799035 VERSUS NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU REP. BY THE SC, NCB Advocate for the Petitioner : TAWHID LASKAR, A BORBHUYAN,MR. D K AGARWALA Advocate for the Respondent : SC, NCB, BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANASH RANJAN PATHAK ORDER 13.05.2025 Heard Mr. T. Laskar, learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. M. Deka, learned Standing Counsel for the sole respondent/NCB. 2) The petitioner, namely, Shankar Debnath, son of Tarani Kanta Debnath, resident of village-Noagaon, Kepranpara, Police Station-Ranir Bazar, District-West Tripura has filed this application under Section 483 BNSS, 2023 on 10.03.2025, who is an accused in Page No.# 2/5 NDPS Case No. 189/2022, arising out of NCB Crime No. 04/2022 and was arrested in the said case on 05.03.2022 along with three others, in which, charge under Sections 20(b)(ii)(C)/29 of the NDPS Act, 1985 were framed against the accused persons of the case, including the petitioner by the learned Special Judge (NDPS) -cum- Additional Sessions Judge, FTC No. 3, Kamrup (Metro), Guwahati on 07.11.2022, where the trial of the case is going on in the Court of the learned Special Judge (NDPS) -cum- Additional Sessions Judge, FTC No. 3, Kamrup (Metro) at Guwahati. 3) Since the petitioner is in custody w.e.f. 05.03.2022 and the recording of the evidence of the prosecution witnesses are not yet complete; as he is in custody for more than three years, the petitioner is praying for his bail. 4) It is also contended by the petitioner that earlier, the Hon’ble Supreme Court, by its order passed in Special Writ Petition (Crl.) Diary No. 34766/2024 dated 30.08.2024 directed the learned Trial Court to expedite the trial and conclude the same, preferably within six months from the date of receipt of the copy of the said order. However, the prosecution NCB failed to adduce the evidence of its witnesses so as to complete the trial and that evidence of many prosecution witnesses are yet to be recorded by the learned Trial Court. 5) Mr. Laskar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner also submitted that two of the co-accused, namely, Biswajit Sarma and Debajit Saha were released on bail by a Co- ordinate Bench of this Court vide orders dated 08.04.2025 and 08.05.2025 passed in Bail Application Nos. 618/2025 and 1199/2025, respectively, for non-compliance of the provisions of Sections 47 & 48 BNSS/50 & 50A Cr.P.C. 6) It is also pointed out by Mr. Laskar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner that the present petitioner was arrested along with said Biswajit Sarma and Debajit Saha in said NCB Crime No. 04/2022 and even to the petitioner, Notices under Sections 47 & 48 BNSS/50 & 50A Cr.P.C were not served. 7) Perused the records of said NDPS Case No. 189/2022 that were called for by the Court vide order dated 13.03.2025. Page No.# 3/5 8) Matter relates to recovery of 405.270 kgs of Ganja contained in 42 Nos. of packets from the conscious possession of the petitioner and the other co-accused of the case. 9) It is seen from the records of the case that Offence Report was already submitted in the case and out of ten prosecution witnesses, the Trial Court has already recorded the evidence of six prosecution witnesses, who were already cross-examined by the defence, including the accused petitioner. 10) From the perusal of the records, it is also seen that though Notice under Section 50 Cr.P.C has been served on the petitioner on 04.03.2022, but it does not contain the grounds as being established in the cases of Prabir Purkayastha Vs. State (NCT of Delhi), reported in (2024) 8 SCC 254 and Vihaan Kumar Vs. State of Haryana & Anr., reported in (2025) SCC OnLine SC 269 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. 11) Considering such materials in the case records and since the personnel of NCB Crime, while arresting the petitioner on 05.03.2022 did not comply with the provisions of Section 50 of the Cr.P.C. and thereby violated the provisions of Article 22 of the Constitution of India, the Court found that the petitioner is entitled for his bail in NDPS Case No. 189/2022, arising out of NCB Crime No. 04/2022. 12) Accordingly, the petitioner, namely, Shankar Debnath, son of Tarani Kanta Debnath be released on bail in said NDPS Case No. 189/2022, arising out of NCB Crime No. 04/2022, on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakhs), with 2(two) local sureties, each of the like amount, one of which shall be a Government employee, either State or Central, permanently serving in the State of Assam, to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judge (NDPS) –cum- Additional Sessions Judge, FTC No. 3, Kamrup (Metro) at Guwahati subject to the conditions that the petitioner, named above — i) shall not leave the territorial jurisdiction of the learned Special Judge (NDPS) -cum- Additional Sessions Judge, FTC No. 3, Kamrup (Metro), Guwahati without obtaining prior written permission from the said authority, till disposal of said NDPS Case No. 189/2022; Page No.# 4/5 ii) shall regularly attend the Trial before the learned Special Judge (NDPS) -cum- Additional Sessions Judge, FTC No. 3, Kamrup (Metro), Guwahati in said NDPS Case No. 189/2022 and shall co-operate with the said Special Court during the trial of the said case till its disposal; iii) shall not hamper and/or tamper with the evidence of the case; iv) 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 them from disclosing such facts to the Court and v) shall not involve himself in any criminal activities in the future. 13) Violation of any of the aforesaid terms and conditions by the petitioner, namely, Shankar Debnath, son of Tarani Kanta Debnath the bail granted to him in said NDPS Case No. 189/2022, arising out of NCB Crime No. 04/2022 shall stand automatically vacated. 14) It is also made clear that the learned Special Judge (NDPS) -cum- Additional Sessions Judge, FTC No. 3, Kamrup (Metro), Guwahati shall be at liberty to impose any other conditions, as it deems fit and proper at the time of releasing the accused petitioner on bail in said NDPS Case No. 189/2022, arising out of NCB Crime No. 04/2022 to procure his attendance during the trial. 15) It is observed that this order relates to bail of the accused petitioner, namely, Shankar Debnath, son of Tarani Kanta Debnath in said NDPS Case No. 189/2022, arising out of NCB Crime No. 04/2022 and not on merits of the case. 16) Petitioner, named above, be released on bail accordingly, if not required in any other Criminal Case. 17) At this stage, Ms. Deka, learned Standing Counsel, NCB Crime has placed before the Court a communication of the Officer-in-Charge of Ranirbazar Police Station, West Tripura-799035 dated 06.08.2024 indicating that the petitioner is a charge-sheeted accused in Ranirbazar Police Station, West Tripura, Agartala c/w Case No. PRC (W/P) Page No.# 5/5 308/2024 under Section 306 IPC. 18) With the above observation and direction, this bail application stands allowed to the extent above. JUDGE Comparing Assistant