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2020 (1) TMI 1075

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..... appellant is entitled to bail because there is a possibility that he was unaware of the illegal activities of his brother and the other crew members. The case of the appellant is different from that of all the other accused, whether it be the Master of the ship, the crew members or the persons who introduced the Master to the prospective buyers and the prospective buyers. Some stringent conditions will have to be imposed upon the appellant - the appellant Sujit Tiwari are directed to be released on bail upon furnishing a bail bond in the sum of ₹ 10,00,000/-, with two sureties of the like amount to the 8 satisfaction of the Special Judge, NDPS Court at Porbandar on the conditions imposed - appeal disposed off. - CRIMINAL APPEAL N .....

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..... f narcotics in the ship. He identified the locations and approximately 1445 kg of narcotics substance in 1526 packets was recovered. This was hidden in two cavities modified in the two tanks on both sides at stern of the vessel and also in the bollards and railings on both sides of the weather deck. These cavities and railings had been fabricated for concealing narcotics which were stored in water proof packets. 3. Information in this regard was given to the Narcotics Control Bureau, Ahmedabad (for short NCB ). The NCB carried out investigation and after completing some investigation, filed a complaint before the Special Judge, NDPS Court at Porbandar in Gujarat on 22.12.2017 against the Master and the 7 crew members and 5 other .....

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..... in Gwadar Port, Pakistan and 1 Pakistani National named Khalid Mohammad also joined the accused here. However, instead of going towards Egypt, as directed by their boss, Suprit Tiwari and crew members decided to bring the ship to India and changed the name of their vessel from PrinceII to MV Hennry. Suprit Tiwari and crew members after landing in India decided to sell all the drugs and get the ship dismantled as soon as the drugs got delivered to Vishal Kumar Yadav and Irfan Sheikh who assured them to buy the entire consignment. According to Suprit Tiwari, all the nonIndian crew members, i.e. four Iranians and one Pakistani national deboarded the ship after concealment of drugs. 6. The Master and crew members destroyed the Automat .....

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..... ding this bail application we are conscious of the provisions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act which lays down two limitations; one, that the court is prima facie of the view that the appellant is not guilty of the offence and secondly, that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. 9. We have gone through the statement made by the appellant under Section 67 of the NDPS Act. Without going into the question whether the statement is admissible or not, as this matter has been referred to a larger bench, we are, for the purpose of this case, taking the statement into consideration even though the appellant has resiled from the same. 10. The prosecution story is that the appellant was aware of what his brother was do .....

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..... ise. However, at this stage it cannot be said with certainty whether he was aware that drugs were being smuggled on the ship or not, though the allegation is that he made such a statement to the NCB under Section 67 of the NDPS Act. 11. At this stage, without going into the merits, we feel that the case of the appellant herein is totally different from the other accused. Reasonable possibility is there that he may be acquitted. He has been behind bars since his arrest on 04.08.2017 i.e. for more than 2 years and he is a young man aged about 25 years. He is a B.Tech Graduate. Therefore, under facts and circumstances of this case we feel that this is a fit case where the appellant is entitled to bail because there is a possibility t .....

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