Rajasthan High Court grants bail in NDPS case, doubts CBN’s seizure procedure
Rajasthan HC grants bail in 248 kg doda chura case, holding CBN's mixing of seized bags and 20-day delay in FSL dispatch cast doubt on seizure.
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The bench of Justice Ravi Chirania
Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has granted bail to a man accused of possessing 248.640 kg of doda chura, holding that the Central Bureau of Narcotics’ exercise of opening all the seized bags at its own office, mixing the entire contraband together and repacking it into fresh bags, coupled with a delay of more than 20 days in sending the samples to the FSL, creates serious doubt about the entire seizure.
Justice Ravi Chirania observed that despite the rigour of Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 being attracted to the commercial quantity recovered, the case was fit for exercise of power under Section 483 B.N.S.S., 2023, noting that the investigation was complete, the complaint had been filed and the petitioner had no criminal antecedents under the NDPS Act.
Questioning the manner in which the seized substance was handled, the Court observed:
“This Court fails to find any justification in the entire complaint for opening the bags, collecting the entire substance on one sheet and then making the separate bags. As a settled practice and procedure, the samples are first taken from each bags as recovered, which has not been done in the present case. This exercise as done is quite strange and creates doubt about the complete action of the respondent-CBN in the case.”
Petitioner Nepal Singh was arrested by the CBN on the allegation that 248.640 kg of doda chura was recovered from his possession after his vehicle was intercepted at about 11:10 PM on 18.06.2025 on the basis of secret information. After investigation, the CBN filed its complaint dated 11.12.2025 before the NDPS Court, Ramganjmandi, District Kota.
Mr. Dinesh Kumar Garg, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the bags allegedly containing the contraband were neither opened nor examined at the place of interception, and that instead of being taken to any of the several police stations falling on the way, the vehicle and the petitioner were taken directly to the CBN office at Jaora, District Ratlam, where the search and seizure began only around 1:45 AM. He pointed to discrepancies in the arrest memo, which recorded the time as 12:30 without mentioning AM or PM, and submitted that the samples drawn on 19.06.2025 were sent to the FSL only by a letter dated 10.07.2025. Reliance was placed on a coordinate bench order in Rakesh Kumar Sharma v Central Bureau of Narcotics, where bail was granted on similar facts.
Opposing the application, Special Public Prosecutor Mr. Tej Prakash Sharma submitted that owing to practical difficulties at the spot, the vehicle was rightly taken to the CBN office where all requisite procedures of seizure, sampling and arrest were duly followed, and that since the recovery was above commercial quantity, the rigour of Section 37 of the Act of 1985 disentitled the petitioner to bail.
The Court noted that there was no justification in the complaint for not checking the bags at the place of interception or for not taking the petitioner to the nearest police station, and that the samples remained in the CBN’s custody for more than 20 days, whereas Clause 1.13 of Standing Order No. 1/1988 dated 15.03.1988 mandates that samples drawn be sent to the FSL within 72 hours of recovery. It referred to the Supreme Court’s order in Sukhdev @ Raju v State of Rajasthan, which treated unexplained delay in forwarding samples for chemical examination as a relevant circumstance while granting bail.
Allowing the application, the Court directed that the petitioner be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1,00,000 with two sound and solvent sureties of Rs 50,000 each. The petitioner has been directed to mark his presence at the concerned CBN office twice a month for the entire period of the trial, failing which the bail shall stand cancelled automatically without further reference to the Court. The order was pronounced on 01.06.2026.
Title: Nepal Singh v The Central Bureau of Narcotics
Case No.: S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous Bail Application No. 1528/2026
Counsel for petitioner: Mr. Dinesh Kumar Garg
Counsel for respondent: Mr. Tej Prakash Sharma, Special P.P.
