Punjab & Haryana High Court Refuses Pre-Arrest Bail To 'Mole' Constable Accused Of Demanding Bribe To Fizzle Down Investigation In NDPS Case

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a constable who was accused of demanding Rs. 10 lacs to fizzle down the investigation in a case involving 280 grams of heroin i.e. commercial quantity recovered from an accused in NDPS Act.

Justice Anoop Chitkara said,

"it is apparent that the petitioner was aware that Gopal Singh (accused in NDPS) had made illegal money by dealing with the drugs and wanted to have a piece of such a big cake. Being the member of the police party, it can be disastrous if such a mole betrays their own team due to which some would be working to carb this menace of drugs."

The Court was hearing the anticipatory bail plea of a Punjab Police constable, Mohit Bedi. He was booked under Sections 7, 7A of Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly demanding bribe for cease investigating a NDPS case against one Gopal Singh.

The complaint was made by the wife of Gopal, that the constable had taken her husband into custody, raided her house and took away 4 wrist watches, scooty, car key, mobile phones and some cash.

It was further alleged that he demanded money from the complainant, if she want to save her husband. In order to catch him red-handed, she made false promise and handed him the cash. Thereafter he was caught by the raiding party, submitted the State in reply.

Opposing the petition, the counsel appearing for the state submitted that, "they need custodial interrogation of the petitioner not to unearth the involvement of police officials and other persons in this case but also that in how much other cases, petitioner and his accomplices have involved in this kind of tactics."

Considering the submission, the Court noted, that complainant whose husband was arrested in NDPS case was being cheated by the petitioner and his accomplices by involving in thugee and they not only took away her immovable property but also want to extract as much money as possible.

Justice Chitkara opined that the evidence collected against the petitioner is prime facie sufficient and serious and the impact of the crime on the society as well as on police force is "massive".

In the light of the above the Court dismissed the pre-arrest bail plea.

Appearance: Anurag Chopra, Advocate for the petitioner.

Ravinder Singh, AAG, Punjab

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 211

Title: Mohit Bedi v. State of Punjab

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