Charge-Sheet Story Contradicting the FIR: Supreme Court Upholds Bail to Man Accused of Planting Cocaine

On 19.02.2021 Kolkata police recovered 76 grams of cocaine from a car with three occupants (para 4). The respondent was arrested on 23.02.2021; the charge-sheet alleged that, out of a personal grudge, he paid ₹8.5 lakh for the cocaine, had a co-accused plant it in the car and then sheltered him, an offence under Section 27A of financing trafficking and harbouring offenders (paras 4-5). It found the allegations against the occupants not established (para 6). The Special Court refused bail, but the Calcutta High Court granted it on 24.11.2021 with stringent conditions (paras 7-8).

The Court accepted that Section 37 applies to a Section 27A accusation and that witness statements, CCTV footage and call records, the respondent's 53 criminal cases and his failure to appear on summons weighed against him; yet the High Court's view was a possible one (para 13). The police complaint of 19.02.2021, the foundation of the case, said the car was stopped while moving and its occupants pointed out where the cocaine was hidden; their later statements, that they had left the car while a co-accused stayed inside, contradicted it (para 16). At this stage the complaint's version must prevail, so the planting story fell, and questions of possession, quantity and financing became redundant (paras 16-17). The point that the two key witnesses gave statements only after he was summoned could not be ignored, and their accounts raised questions (para 14). He had no NDPS history and nothing was recovered from him, so the prima facie indication that he was being framed outweighed his antecedents; flight risk was met by the bail conditions (para 18).