TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (5) TMI 2296
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..../4 of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 ('MCOCA'). 2. The brief facts of the case are that on the basis of secret information, on 23.07.2017, a raid was conducted and the applicant was apprehended with 3 Kg of Heroin, which led to registration of FIR No. 51/2017 by Police Station Special Cell. At the time of apprehension, the applicant was travelling in a car that was registered in the name of co-accused Deepak (kingpin), who is allegedly a notorious criminal with 20 involvements under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 ('NDPS Act'). During investigation, the applicant allegedly disclosed that he used to supply Heroin to co-accused Deepak and Neeraj in Delhi. The applicant also allegedly disclosed....
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....applicant submits that the applicant is innocent and MCOCA has been erroneously invoked against the applicant. 6. He submits that the applicant was merely employed as a driver of co-accused Deepak and he had no knowledge of the contraband recovered from the vehicle, which led to the registration of FIR No. 51/2017. He further submits that the applicant has already been granted bail in that case. 7. He further submits that the applicant has already been acquitted in FIR No. 1103/2015, registered at Police Station Vivek Vihar. He submits that no other person of the alleged syndicate was facing trial in that case and it was in no manner linked to the same. 8. He submits that the applicant has spent about six and a half years in custod....
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....levant portion of the aforesaid Section reads as under: "(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code, no person accused of an offence punishable under this Act shall, if in custody, be released on bail or on his own bond, unless- (a) the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity to oppose the application of such release; and (b) where the Public Prosecutor opposes the application, the Court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail." 14. It is the case of the prosecution that the accused persons (including the applicant), who are members of a syndicate, acted in an organised manner....
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....own merely because the case arises under a special statute such as MCOCA. Reliance was placed on precedents in a number of cases, including, Mohd. Muslim v. State (NCT of Delhi): (2023) 18 SCC 166, where while dealing with the analogous provision of Section 37 of the NDPS Act which envisages a similar bar, the Hon'ble Apex Court had held that if the period of deprivation pending trial becomes unduly long, the fairness assured by Article 21 of the NDPS Act will receive a jolt. 19. The Hon'ble Apex Court in Rabi Prakash v. State of Odisha : 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1109, while granting bail to the petitioner therein who was accused of offences under the NDPS Act, had held as under : "4. As regard to the twin conditions contained in Sect....
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....years. Certain orders are placed on record by the applicant to show that lesser sentence has been awarded for the alleged offences to accused in other cases post-conviction. While any comment on the potential sentence that may be awarded in the present case will be premature, at this stage, it cannot be ignored that the applicant has spent much more time in custody than 05 years and that the trial is unlikely to be concluded in near future. 22. It is not the case of the prosecution that the applicant is the kingpin of the alleged syndicate. It is pertinent to note that the applicant has already been enlarged on bail in the case under NDPS Act and acquitted in the other case that was registered against him. 23. It is also relevant to n....