Delhi High Court: Granted Bail To Fertilizer Seller In NDPS Case; ‘Khad’ Cannot Solely Be Interpreted To Mean Drugs

The Delhi High Court in the case Pratap Singh vs The State (NCT of Delhi) observed and has granted bail to an accused in an NDPS case, wherein observing that ‘Khad’ cannot be solely interpreted to mean contraband or drugs.
The bench comprising of Justice Jasmeet Singh in the order dated October 3 stated that the applicant is in the business of fertilizers and hence the use of word ‘Khad’ is neither unusual nor strange and the court have a reasonable ground to believe that he is not guilty of the offence.
In the present case, the court made observations while granting bail to Pratap Singh, who being in custody in the case since March 09 last year.
In March 2021, in the present case registered by Special Cell, it alleged three Kilograms of heroin which is recovered from accused Kapil and 7 Kilograms from the alleged supplier Uday.
The Singh who being the accused had been arrested on the basis of Kapil’s disclosure statement and an intercepted call between them regarding an alleged drug transaction.
In the order, it has been stated by Justice Singh that the accused Singh was “apprehended primarily” on the basis of Kapil’s disclosure statement, and that had been no recovery from him.
Further, it had been stated by the court, admittedly, a shop of fertilizer is runed by applicant at Barabanki, UP. The intercepted conversation between the applicant and the Kapil shows that they were talking about supply of ‘Khad’ which cannot be solely interpreted to mean drugs or contraband.
The court stated that the public prosecutor has been granted an opportunity to oppose the application, with respect to the bar of Section 37.
The court added that there being no discovery from the applicant, there is no money trail or possession of any drugs/contraband with the applicant. Thus, the applicant has clear antecedents and there is no other case pending against him and the only material against the applicant is the disclosure statement of Kapil and the intercepted conversation which talks about ‘Khad’.
It has also been stated by the court that it is prima facie of the view that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail, while allowing the bail application of the accused.