Muhammad Yousaf and another vs The State and another
This matter arises from petitions seeking post-arrest bail in multiple criminal cases registered against the petitioners consequent upon a single transaction involving the interception of a mini truck and the recovery of a massive cache of cannabis. The core legal question concerns whether multiple First Information Reports and recoveries stemming from a single vehicle and transaction, executed through piecemeal disclosures and investigative efforts, can be deemed a sham exercise or grounds for granting bail. The Supreme Court held that the massive cache of 56.400 kilograms of cannabis concealed in various cavities of the vehicle was discovered through elaborate investigative efforts, making it humanly impossible to conclude the exercise in one go, and thus justified the registration of multiple cases. The Court laid down the principle that the recovery of a huge contraband cache through progressive disclosures and investigative measures attracts the mischief of section 51 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, acting as an insurmountable impediment to releasing the accused on bail.
- Does the registration of multiple First Information Reports for recoveries made from a single vehicle through piecemeal investigative disclosures entitle the accused to post-arrest bail?
- Whether the recovery of a huge cache of narcotics constitutes an insurmountable impediment to the release of an accused on bail under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997?
- Can multiple recoveries from a single vehicle at different police stations be treated as a sham exercise during tentative assessment for bail?
- Section 51, Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997
ORDER
QAZI MUHAMMAD AMIN AHMED, J.-- Consequent upon a single transaction with registration of different criminal cases, bail petitions wherefrom, were decided by the High Court through orders of even date, bear a common thread and, thus, are being decided through this single order.
2. On a tip off, Shoukat Hayat, SI of Police Station Doulat Gate Multan intercepted a Mini Truck bearing Registration No.TKZ/301 with Muhammad Yousaf and Ehsan Ullah, petitioners on board, on 25.6.2020; at first, 5 packets of cannabis weighing 6000 grams were found in the cabin; besides the contraband a sum of Rs.105,000/- was secured vide inventory. As the investigation progressed, Ehsan Ullah was found to have impersonated himself as Muhammad Younas, a subterfuge rectified forthwith. This followed by multiple disclosures by the accused leading to seizure of other consignments, surreptitiously concealed in different cavities of the vehicle as well as beneath the cargo. It was through intensive effort that the police finally succeeded with the help of electric cutters to discover meticulously concealed cache, the last after the vehicle had already moved to the precincts of Police Station Lohari Gate. It is in this backdrop that as many as five First Information Reports were recorded to encompass the whole episode, a complexity, ingeniously highlighted by the learned counsel in his attempt to project multiple recoveries from the single vehicle at two police stations as a sham exercise.
3. Heard. Record perused.
4. A considerable cache comprising 56.400 k.g. cannabis was concealed in different cavities, discovered 'pursuant to piecemeal disclosures through elaborate investigate efforts involving steel cutters and, thus, it was humanly not possible for the police contingent to conclude the exercise in one go; they proceeded with the registration of cases as and when the recoveries became available and this certainly does not allow, within the limited space of tentative assessment, to entertain any manner of doubt for imposition of such a huge cache as in the given facts and circumstances of the case, there was no smarter way to better systematize the conclusion of investigative proceedings. Material collected coupled with the statements of the witnesses clearly attracts the mischief of section 51 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, standing insurmountably in impediment to petitioners' release on bail. Petitions fail. Leave declined.