New Delhi [India], May 1 : The Delhi High Court has granted two weeks of interim bail to Sharafat Sheikh, who is an accused in an NDPS case, on the grounds of the surgery of his wife.
However, the accused has withdrawn his regular bail application and will move to the trial court.
Justice Yogesh Khanna on April 26 granted interim bail to Sharafat Sheikh for two weeks after considering the circumstances on the medical grounds of his wife. The court also considered his past involvement in 86 cases.
"Considering the above circumstances, coupled with the fact his wife is to be operated for piles on April 27, and she being a cancer patient as admitted in the status report, the accused/Petitioner is hereby granted interim bail for a period of two weeks from the date of his release from prison on his executing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial Court/Duty MM," the April 26 order reads.
The High Court has directed the accused not to leave Delhi without permission of the Investigation Officer (IO). He is directed to provide his address and contact number to the SHO concerned.
Earlier he had sought a regular bail on the grounds of parity and merit of the case. This case is connected with the seizure of 3 kilograms of heroin in July 2020.
The present case was registered in 2020 and the petitioner along with his son was arrested from Mumbai in August 2020. His son has been granted bail by the Delhi High Court.
Shararat Sheikh moved a petition through his advocate in January. It was stated that the investigation has been completed and a charge sheet has been filed. The petitioner has been in custody since August 2020.
The petitioner stated that he was not aware of the alleged offence. No recovery was effected from the petitioner. The only evidence against the petitioner is the call details record (CDR) and disclosure statement of other accused persons.
His earlier bail was dismissed by the trial court on December 17, 2022.
While dismissing the bail plea of Sharafat Sheikh, the court observed that the petitioner is involved in 85 criminal cases including NDPS Act cases and stated to be convicted in one NDPS matter and convicted in various other matters.
The petitioner had contended that Trial Court has not appreciated the present case on its merit, rather, dismissed the bail application while observing his previous criminal record.
Moreover, the trial Court has granted regular bail to the co-accused persons namely Wasim Sheikh and Mohd. Faisal on a similar role. Therefore, it would not be justified to deny the bail of the petitioner only on the basis of his previous antecedents without discussing the case of the petitioner on merit, the petition stated.
It also submitted that as per the prosecution case, the role of the petitioner is identical to his son namely Wasim Shiekh who is also the co-accused in the present case and has already been granted regular bail by this Court.
As per the prosecution story, on July 23, 2020, acting upon secret information, the crime branch arrested the co-accused namely Rafiq who brought the heroin from Mandsaur, MP and Rajasthan and supply the same in Delhi, along with his associate Nasir in a Car.
Both the accused person was apprehended and 3 kg heroin was recovered from the possession of the accused Mohd. Rafiq alias Peer Ji alias Ibrahim.
According to the prosecution story, the alleged disclosure statement of both the above-mentioned accused persons and per their disclosure statement, the name of the petitioner came on the surface in the present case along with his son namely Wasim Shiekh and Faisal who are also the co-accused in the present case.
As per the disclosure statement, they had stated that they are working for the petitioner as well as his son Wasim and he used to deliver heroin to the petitioner procured from Mandsaur, MP.
It is also submitted that except for the disclosure statement, there is no incriminating evidence against the petitioner to connect him with the present case in any manner, the fact of the matter is that the petitioner is remotely not connected with the present case, it is not in dispute that the petitioner and other co-accused namely Nasir Hussain, Wasim and Mohd. Faisal lives in the same locality.
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