Dismissed¶31

Shivam Kumar @ Ram Gulam Choudhary v. the State of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh HC17 Mar 2025CRLP/1687/2025

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

NDPS regular bail refused; 48 kgs ganja seized at Palasa Railway station; commercial quantity; statutory period not completed; premature bail application; inventory pending; Sec.480 & 483 BNSS 2023; Sec.20(b)(ii)(C) r/w 8(c) NDPS Act; Crime No.212/2024 Palasa GRP Vijayawada; Shivam Kumar @ Ram Gulam Choudhary; State of Andhra Pradesh; High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amaravati; Dr Justice Venkata Jyothirmai Pratapa; Criminal Petition No.1687/2025; dismissed 18.03.2025.

What did the court decide?

Regular bail declined at this stage: the seized contraband is a commercial quantity, the statutory period was not completed, the bail application is premature, and investigation is ongoing. ¶30

Shivam Kumar @ Ram Gulam Choudhary Vs the State of… — Narcotics (NDPS) | Andhra Pradesh HC (2025)

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APHC010077742025

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI

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(Special Original Jurisdiction)

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[3396]

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TUESDAY ,THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE

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PRESENT

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THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE VENKATA JYOTHIRMAI PRATAPA

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CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 1687/2025

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Between:

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Shivam Kumar @ Ram Gulam Choudhary ...PETITIONER/ACCUSED(S) and Others

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AND

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The State Of Andhra Pradesh

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...RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT

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Counsel for the Petitioner/accused(S):

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1.GOLLAPALLI MAHESWARA RAO

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Counsel for the Respondent/complainant:

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1.PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

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The Court made the following:

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The Criminal Petition, u/Sec.480 & 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, is filed on behalf of the petitioners/A1 to A3 to grant regular bail in connection with Crime No.212/2024 of Palasa GRP Vijayawada.

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A case has been registered against the petitioners herein and another for the offences punishable u/Sec.20(b)(ii)(C) r/w 8(c) of NDPS Act.

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The case of the prosecution in nut shell is as follows:

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On 03.11.2024 at 2.00 pm, on receipt of credible information about

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illegal possession and transportation of ganja, the Sub-Inspector of Police, GRP Palasa, along with staff and mediators conducted search in Palasa Railway station plat form no.2 and found three persons in suspicious circumstances. On enquiry, they disclosed their identity particulars as that of A1 to A3 and police found 48 kgs of ganja in their possession. They were arrested, seized the contraband and produced them before the Court for judicial remand.

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Heard Sri G.Maheswara Rao, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri Neelothpal Ganji, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor for the respondent.

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Learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that the petitioners have been in judicial custody from 03.11.2025 i.e. for more than four months the petitioners are in judicial custody and by this time investigation is almost complete and the petitioners are ready to furnish solvent sureties to the satisfaction of the Court and prays to allow the criminal petition.

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Contra to the same, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor vehemently opposed the petition stating that inventory is pending in this matter and the seized contraband is a commercial quantity and the criminal petition is premature one as the statutory period was not completed and prays to dismiss the criminal petition.

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Considering the submissions made and on perusal of the material on record shows that, as learned Assistant Public Prosecutor has rightly pointed out that the seized contraband is commercial quantity and the statutory period was not completed and the bail application is a premature one, this Court is not inclined to grant bail to the petitioners at this stage, as the investigation is going on.

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