In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh ...... Criminal Misc. No.M-30524 of 2009 ..... Date of decision:28.1.2010 Gurmail Singh .....Petitioner v. State of Punjab .....Respondent .... Present: Mr. Johny Goel, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Shilesh Gupta, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab for the respondent-State. ..... S.S. Saron, J. Heard learned counsel for the parties. The petitioner seeks pre-arrest bail in a case registered against him for the offence under Section 15 of the NDPS Act. The FIR in the case has been registered on the statement of Harbans Singh, Inspector, In-charge, Special Task Force, Bathinda Zone on 27.5.2006. Harbans Singh, Inspector along with other Police officials were present at the culvert of minor in the area of Village Sekhu in connection with a check-post that had been set-up. Baljinder Singh son of Jang Singh met Harbans Singh, Inspector and was talking with him. In the meantime, at about 8.00 am. a jeep bearing registration No.HR-24A-3959 was seen coming from the side of Village Desu. Harbans Singh, Inspector signalled the jeep to stop. Then three young men tried to slip away from the jeep. Then the Inspector with the help of his companions apprehended them and Cr. Misc. No.M-30524 of 2009 [2] asked their names and addresses. The driver of the jeep disclosed his name as Raja Ram son of Dana Ram. The second person disclosed his name as Sadhu Ram son of Ranjit Singh. The person who ran away from the spot, it was stated, was Neela (petitioner). The persons, who were apprehended, namely, Raja Ram and Sadhu Ram were asked to be searched and whether they wanted the search to be conducted by some gazetted officer. They stated that they wanted themselves to be searched in the presence of some gazetted officer. Harbans Singh, Inspector prepared a separate consent memo of aforesaid Raja Ram and Sadhu Ram on which the witnesses put their signatures. Raja Ram had put his signatures in Hindi whereas Sadhu Ram had put his left thumb impression. Thereafter, Harbans Singh, Inspector asked the Control Room to send some gazetted officer at the spot. At about 9.15 a.m. Jaspal, PPS, DSP, Talwandi Sabo came at the spot. The search was conducted of the gunny bags lying in the jeep which were suspected to contain some narcotic substance. Eight gunny bags lying in the jeep were searched and poppy husk was recovered from the gunny bags. Sample of 250 grams of poppy husk was taken from each of the gunny bags. The Inspector put his seal `HS' on the samples. After use the seal was handed over to ASI Surjit Singh. The incident is of 27.5.2006. The other co-accused, namely, Raja Ram and Sadhu Ram have been convicted vide judgment and order dated 20.2.2008 (Annexure-P.1). The petitioner was declared a proclaimed offender in the said case. The petitioner had applied for anticipatory bail before the Sessions Court which was rejected on 7.12.2006. After the rejection of his bail application on 7.12.2006, the petitioner filed the present petition on 29.7.2009 and on objections being raised it was re-filed on Cr. Misc. No.M-30524 of 2009 [3] 29.10.2009. Therefore, he has been quite casual in respect of the case that was pending against him. Besides, the petitioner had remained a proclaimed offender and he was at least in the know of the case against him after his application for bail was declined on 7.12.2006. Thereafter, his co-accused have been convicted and sentenced vide order dated 20.2.2008 (Annexure- P.1). The petitioner though was not apprehended at the spot, however, his identity was established. The recovery of the contraband falls within commercial quantity. Keeping in view the fact that the recovery falls within commercial quantity and the fact that the petitioner has been absconding even though he was aware of the case, no ground for grant of anticipatory bail is made out. The criminal miscellaneous petition is accordingly dismissed. January 28, 2010. (S.S. Saron) Judge *hsp*