Punjab Cop Who Allegedly Turned Drug Kingpin Granted Bail After 11 Yrs In Jail, High Court Asks Him To Plant 100 Saplings

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday suspended sentence and granted bail to dismissed Punjab DSP Jagdish Bhola, who is alleged kingpin in the 2013 multi-crore drug racket.Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel said, "The applicant is directed to plant 100 saplings of indigenous plants at a public place and submit proof in that regard by way of photographs before the Chief Judicial Magistrate within a period of 15 days. In the absence of any intimation/compliance report, the matter be put up for consideration on the question of cancellation of bail."Bhola was convicted for drug trafficking under NDPS Act in 2019 and his appeal against conviction is pending before the High Court since then.Without entering into merits of the matter, the bench noted that, "the custody certificate persuades us to grant bail to the applicant-appellant considering the fact that 11 years and about 5 months of awarded sentence of 12 years of rigorous imprisonment has undisputedly been suffered by the applicant- appellant and there is no hope of the appeal coming up for final hearing in the near future."Considering that the Bhola had several antecedents, in some of which he was acquitted and in some convicted, while some cases remain pending consideration, the Court said, "sentence of the applicant-appellant Jagdish Singh Bholla is suspended during the pendency of the appeal with stringent condition of furnishing his personal bond in the sum of ₹5 lakhs with two local sureties of like amount."The Court added further that Bhola shall attend the concerned police station once in a month and record his presence, failing which the SHO of the police station shall intimate to the jurisdictional Magistrate, "who shall be free to issue arrest warrants against the applicant/appellant provided this Court is kept informed."It also directed him to surrender his passport with the trial Court which shall not be released without the leave of this court. Mr. Vikram Chaudhari, Senior Advocate (through VC) with Ms. Hargun Sandhu, Advocate, for the applicant-appellantMr. Somesh Arora, Addl. AG, PunjabTitle: JAGDISH SINGH BHOLLA V/S STATE OF PUNJABClick here to read/download the order

Punjab Cop Who Allegedly Turned Drug Kingpin Granted Bail After 11 Yrs In Jail, High Court Asks Him To Plant 100 Saplings

Aiman J. Chishti

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