1 BA-1766-11.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURTE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1766 OF 2011 mhi Gadadhar Baji Linka ... Applicant (Orig. Accused) vs. The State of Maharashtra ... Respondent Shri V.V.Purwant, Advocate, for the applicant. Shri Y.S.Shinde, APP, for the respondent-State. CORAM: J.H.BHATIA, J. DATE : 16th December,2011. P.C. 1. Leave to amend the name of the applicant. 2. The applicant seeks to be released in Crime No.1/2011 registered with Solapur Railway Police Station for the offence under Section 20(b) of NDPS Act. 3. Prosecution case, in brief, is that the Railway Police Head Constable Bandgar and three other constables were on Squad duty on Bhuvaneshwar Mumbai Konark Express from Gulbarga to Daund. Before the train reached Solapur Railway Station, one lady passenger told police party that one red 2 BA-1766-11.sxw coloured trolley bag was lying under the seat in Berth No.39 in Coach No.S-4. After enquiry from different persons in the Coach, one woman passenger claimed that bag. Two other bags and one grey coloured suit case were claimed by one woman and two male passengers. On inquiry, they could not satisfactorily explain about the contents of the bags. The smell from those bags revealed that they contained Ganja. Therefore two male and two female passengers along with three bags and one suite case were detained. The Head Constable lodged the report at Control Room. At the Railway Police Station in presence of panchas, search of the said bags was taken. One bag contained 8 kg. 800 gram ganja, another bag contained 15 kg.200 gram ganja, 3rd bag contained 10 kg. 300 gram ganja and 4th bag contained 9 kg. 200 gram ganja. Samples were taken and C.A. Report confirmed that the samples were ganja. 4. According to the prosecution, the present applicant made a statement before the police that he had gone to Sonped Railway Station in Andhra Pradesh to go to Surat and there three other accuses met him at the Station. Thereafter, one Sanyashi Panda of Bramhapur, Orissa met them and he had brought tickets and he gave the tickets to them and informed that the goods were lying below Berth N.39 in Coach No.S-4 of Konark Express and that the material was illegal. They were asked to take care of that and some people would come at Kalyan and collect 3 BA-1766-11.sxw the material. These persons were assured amount of Rs.2,000/- to take care of the bags. Said Sanyashi Panda has not been arrested. 5. Without going into the question of admissibility of the statement of the accused before the police, as per the statement the contraband ganja belonged to somebody else. The bags were kept by somebody else below that berth and the said bags were collected by the agent of that person at Kalyan. Thus as per the accused, neither these persons were in possession nor they had brought the goods in the train. They were only assured certain amount to take care of those bags. The four accused persons are not related to each other, though the tickets bear the consecutive numbers indicating all the four tickets must have been purchased simultaneously. Even though that statement is not taken into consideration, it will not be clear which bag belongs to whom. Secondly, none of the bags contained commercial quantity of ganja. On the basis of the material on record, it would be difficult, at least at this stage, to assume that all the four bags belong to any one accused or to the present accused and that he was in possession of commercial quantity of ganja. 6. Therefore, the applicant be released on his executing P.R. of Rs.30,000/- with one or two sureties in the like amount with condition that he 4 BA-1766-11.sxw shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence. Before he is released, he shall submit his residential address with documentary evidence and shall also attend the nearest police station on first and third Monday of every month till end of the trial. (J.H.BHATIA,J.)