While observing that the Courts must expedite trials when the quantity of drugs is more than 10 times the commercial quantity, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed the bail petition of a former sub-inspector accused to be a part of the infamous Bhola drug syndicate.

The High Court was considering the bail matters pertaining to the organised syndicate of Jagdish Singh alias Bhola.

The Bench of Justice Anoop Chitkara and Justice Harmeet Singh Deol held, “When the quantity of drugs is more than 10 times the commercial quantity, the Courts must expedite the trials, and if any of the co-accused, who is on bail, delays the trial, in order to render real Justice to all, one of the steps is to revoke the bail granted to the coaccused, who is instrumental in the delay.”

Senior Advocate P.S. Ahluwalia represented the Petitioner while Deputy Advocate General Pooja Nayar Sharma represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The FIR was registered based on secret information received from the then SHO of the Police Station Banur that Satinder Dhama and Baljinder Singh @ Sonu, along with other members of their organised gang, were stealing luxury vehicles, forging their registration certificates, preparing fake number plates, and using such vehicles to transport Methamphetamine (Ice), Pseudoephedrine, and other narcotic substances. Based on the information, the police laid a barricade, detected the car, and recovered 500 grams of Ice (Methamphetamine) concealed in the vehicle's dashboard. After that, the investigation led to the involvement of co-accused Baljinder Singh alias Sonu, from whom the police recovered 20 kg of Pseudoephedrine and Methamphetamine (Ice), forged registration certificates, fake number plates, mobile phones, laptops, and other articles used to commit the offense.

In 2013, the investigation of the case was transferred to CIA staff in Patiala, who conducted further interrogation and nominated Deep Singh, Jagdish Singh, Paramjit Singh, Sarabjeet Singh, Surjit Singh and the petitioner, Sarabjit Singh. It was stated that the present petitioner, Sarabjit Singh, was posted as a Sub-Inspector in the Punjab Police when he was nominated as an accused. As per the reply, the petitioner, Sarabjit Singh, who was posted as a Sub-Inspector in the Punjab Police and was later dismissed from service, was actively associated with the organised drug trafficking syndicate headed by Jagdish Singh, alias Bhola, and other co-accused. He was formally arrested on February 9, 2022.

The investigation found the petitioner’s involvement and that he had abused his official position as a Police Officer to facilitate the activities of the organized drug trafficking syndicate.

Reasoning

The Bench noted that the quantity allegedly involved was commercial and the rigors of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, 1985, would apply in the case. The Bench explained that Section 37 of the NDPS Act, 1985 mandates, under sub-section (1) (b) of Section 37, that no person accused of an offence punishable for offences involving commercial quantity shall be released on bail unless the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity to oppose the application for release, and where the Public Prosecutor opposes the application, the Court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of such offence and is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.

“Thus, the rigors of S.37 of the NDPS Act apply in the present case, and the burden is on the petitioner to satisfy the twin conditions put in place by the Legislature under §37 of the NDPS Act. Given the legislative mandate of §37 of the NDPS Act, the Court can release a person accused of an offense punishable under the NDPS Act for possessing a commercial quantity of contraband only after recording reasonable satisfaction of its rigors”, it added.

The Bench clarified that the rigours of Sec.37 of the Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and also under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, place an obligation on the Courts to satisfy themselves about the quality of evidence and the possibility of recidivism. “Thus, as the foundational guardians of fundamental rights, the Constitutional Courts must balance the right under Article 21 with the restrictions imposed by these rigors”, it stated.

Considering that the petitioner sought bail on the grounds of parity with other co-accused Deep Singh , the Bench held that the petitioner was placed on a much higher pedestal for the reason that he was facilitating the transportation of massive quantities of drugs by ensuring that the vehicles were not intercepted, and at that time he would wear his official uniform. As per the Bench, the allegations and the evidence collected so far, as mentioned in the reply, made the petitioner's role extremely serious and he was not entitled to bail on parity with Deep Singh.

Holding that the bail petition and the documents attached primafacie pointed towards the petitioner’s involvement and did not make out a case for bail, the Bench dismissed the Petition.

Cause Title: Sarabjit Singh v. State of Punjab (Neutral Citation: 2026:PHHC:128014-DB)

Appearance

Petitioner: Senior Advocates P.S. Ahluwalia, Deepinder Singh Virk

Respondent: Deputy Advocate General Pooja Nayar Sharma

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