The Delhi High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a man accused of being a key conspirator and supplier in an alleged drug trafficking network involving recovery of commercial quantities of Alprazolam, holding that a co-accused’s disclosure statement alone cannot be sufficient to implicate an accused in the absence of substantive corroborative evidence.
Justice Saurabh Banerjee observed that while the prosecution alleged the applicant was the primary supplier of the raw material used to manufacture the recovered psychotropic substance, no recovery had been made from him. The Court noted that though call detail records and monetary transactions indicated contact between the applicant and co-accused persons, these facts by themselves did not establish a direct nexus with illicit trafficking activities.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Tofan Singh v. State of Tamil Nadu, (2021) 4 SCC 1, the Court reiterated that a disclosure statement of a co-accused cannot by itself form the sole basis for implicating an accused, and may only serve to support other legally admissible evidence. Referring also to Balwinder Singh v. Narcotic Control Bureau, (2024) 13 SCC 734, the Court emphasised that there must be substantive material beyond such disclosures to establish involvement in narcotics offences.
The Court held that mere telephonic connectivity and monetary transactions, without substantive corroboration, ‘pale into insignificance’, particularly when no psychotropic substance was recovered from the applicant. It further observed that the rigours of Section 37 of the NDPS Act would not apply in the absence of material directly linking the applicant to the seized contraband.
Taking note of the applicant’s clean antecedents and the fact that he had joined the investigation, the Court directed that in the event of arrest, he be released on anticipatory bail upon furnishing a personal bond of ₹50,000 with one surety, subject to conditions including cooperation with the investigation and surrender of passport.
Appearances:
For the Applicant: Mr. Nishant Nain, Mr. Akash Mishra, Ms. Charu Sharma and Mr. Chanderjeet Yadav, Advs.
For the Respondent: Ms. Meenakshi Dahiya, APP for the State
SI- Gunjan Singh, PS: ER-II/ Crime Branch.
