Rahul Haque@Sekh Vs the State of West Bengal — Narcotics (NDPS) | Calcutta HC (2026)

Rahul Haque@Sekh Vs the State of West Bengal — Narcotics (NDPS) | Calcutta HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Anticipatory bail allowed: in the event of arrest, release on bond of Rs.20,000 with two sureties of Rs.10,000 each (one local) to the satisfaction of the arresting officer, subject to Section 438(2) Cr.P.C./Section 482(2) BNSS 2023 conditions; trial court free to impose further conditions; order valid for eight weeks. CRM(A) No. 6 of 2026 and pending application(s), if any, disposed of.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, against whom the only material is the arrested co-accused's statement that he purchased the contraband from him, is entitled to anticipatory bail under Section 438 Cr.P.C./Section 482 BNSS 2023 in Dinhata Police Station Case No. 156 of 2025.

Court's answer

There are no materials against the present petitioner other than the arrested co-accused's statement that he purchased the contraband from him; accordingly, custodial detention of the petitioner was held not warranted in the facts and circumstances of the case.

Ratio / Principle

The prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioner is allowed.

Key takeaways

In the event of arrest, the petitioner is to be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.20,000 with two sureties of Rs.10,000 each (one of whom must be local) to the satisfaction of the arresting officer, subject to the conditions under Section 438(2) Cr.P.C. and/or Section 482(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.ratio¶20
The learned trial court is at liberty to impose any other conditions to ensure the petitioner's appearance during trial.ratio¶21
The order of anticipatory bail will remain in force for a period of eight weeks from the date of the order.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Anticipatory bail – NDPS Act, 1985, S.21(c) – Dinhata Police Station Case No. 156 of 2025 dated 21.03.2025 (NDPS Case No. 102 of 2025) – 105 gm of Yaba tablets recovered from the co-accused, who is arrested and in custody – per case diary produced by the State, the custodial co-accused stated he purchased the contraband from the petitioner – no other material against the petitioner – custodial detention of the petitioner held not warranted – prayer for anticipatory bail under Section 438 Cr.P.C./Section 482 BNSS 2023 allowed – release on arrest on bond of Rs.20,000 with two sureties of Rs.10,000 each (one local) to the satisfaction of the arresting officer, subject to Section 438(2) Cr.P.C./Section 482(2) BNSS conditions – trial court at liberty to impose further conditions for ensuring trial appearance – anticipatory bail order to remain in force for eight weeks from date – CRM(A) No. 6 of 2026 disposed of (Tirthankar Ghosh, J.; Calcutta High Court, Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri, 09.01.2026).

09.01.2026

Serial no. 25 [G.S.D]

CALCUTTA HIGH COURT IN THE CIRCUIT BENCH AT JALPAIGURI

CRM (A) 6 of 2026

In re : An Application under Section 482 of the BNSS, 2023/under Section 438 of the Cr.P.C. in connection with Dinhata Police Station Case No. 156 of 2025 dated 21.03.2025 u/s 21(c) of the NDPS Act, 1985 corresponding to NDPS Case No. 102 of 2025.

-And-

In the matter of : Rahul Haque @ Sekh

… Petitioner(s)

Mr. H.S. Podder

… for the petitioner(s)

Mr. Ujjwal Luksom Mr. Chattu Roy

… for the State-respondent(s)

Learned advocate for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is innocent of the charges and he has been implicated in connection with the instant case on the basis of statement of the co-accused.

It has been brought to the notice of this court that 105 gm of Yaba tablets were recovered from the co-accused who has been arrested and kept in custody.

Learned advocate for the State has produced the case diary wherefrom it reflects that the custodial accused

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has stated that he purchased the contraband from the present petitioner.

However, there are no other materials so far as the present petitioner is concerned, as such, I am of the view that custodial detention of the present petitioner may not be warranted in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

Hence, the prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioner is Allowed.

Accordingly, I direct that in the event of arrest, the petitioner be released on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.20,000/-(Rupees Twenty Thousand only), with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only) each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the arresting officer of the case and also subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C. and/or under Section 482(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

The learned trial court would be at liberty to impose any other conditions for ensuring appearance of the present petitioner in course of the trial. This order of anticipatory bail will remain in force for a period of eight weeks from date.

Accordingly, CRM(A) No. 6 of 2026 is disposed of. Pending application(s), if any, is also disposed of.

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Parties to act on a server copy of this order duly collected from the official website of the Hon’ble High Court, Calcutta.

Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties subject to compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Tirthankar Ghosh, J.)