Delhi HC issues notice to police on Sharafat Sheikh’s bail plea in NDPS case

New Delhi [India], January 21 (ANI): The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Delhi Police on a bail plea of accused Sharafat Sheikh in an NDPS case.

He 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. Justice Yogesh Khanna issued a notice to Delhi Police Crime Branch on Friday and asked them to file a reply. The next hearing will be on April 6.

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.

Sharafat Sheikh has moved a petition through advocate Urooj Ahmed Khan. It has been 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 has stated that he was not aware of the alleged offense. 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 had 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 has 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 is 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, on 23.07.2020 acting upon a tip-off, the crime branch arrested the co-accused namely Rafiq who brought the heroin from Mandsaur, MP, and Rajasthan and supplied it in Delhi, along with his associate Nasir in a car.
Both the accused person was apprehended and 3 Kg of the 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 to the surface in the present case along with his son namely Wasim Shiekh and Faisal who is 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, 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.