(Prayer: Petition under Section 437/438/439/482 of Cr.P.C and 528 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the petitioner on bail, in Crime No.443 of 2025 of Machavaram Police Station, Vijayawada City, Krishna dist. on such stringent terms and conditions as this Honble Court may deem fit and proper, including strict reporting conditions, surrender of passport, and furnishing of local sureties or any other condition, including technological monitoring, if so required, in the interest of justice.)

1. This Criminal Petition, under Sections 480 and 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, has been filed by the petitioner/Accused No.1, seeking regular bail, in Crime No.443 of 2025 of Machavaram Police Station, Vijayawada City, registered for the offence punishable under Section 8(c) r/w Section 22(C) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

2. Heard Sri P.T.Reddy, learned counsel representing Amaravati Law Chambers for the petitioner and Mrs. K. Priyanka Lakshmi, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor on behalf of the State.

3. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 21.12.2025 at about 8:30 PM, Accused Nos.1 and 2 were apprehended near KK Grand Hotel, on the street situated beside Sentini Hospital, when they attempted to flee on noticing the police arriving in a Rakshak vehicle. Upon enquiry, they confessed that they were in possession of MDMA purchased from Accused No.4 and that cocaine supplied by Accused No.5 was to be delivered to Accused No.3. Upon verification, the police found four small packets containing white crystalline substance suspected to be MDMA weighing 5.5 grams and four packets found in the bag of Accused No.2 weighing 7.84 grams. Thereupon, Accused Nos.1 and 2 were arrested and the said contraband was seized under the cover of a mediators’ report.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that this is the second bail application filed by the petitioner, as the earlier bail application was dismissed by this Court vide order dated 24.02.2026 in Crl.P. No.1250 of 2026. It is further submitted that the petitioner has been in judicial custody since 21.12.2025. He would further submit that, as per the case of the prosecution itself, the police arrested Accused Nos.1 and 2 near K.K. Grand Hotel at 08:30 p.m. on 21.12.2025 and allegedly seized contraband weighing 5.5 grams of MDMA from Accused No.1 and 7.84 grams of MDMA from Accused No.2. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed on record photographs collected from the CCTV footage of K.K. Grand Hotel to show that Accused Nos.1 and 2 were taken away by the police at 06:30 a.m. on the same day, along with a Section 65-B Certificate which goes to the root of the case. It is further submitted that Accused Nos.3 to 5 have already been enlarged on bail by the Trial Court, and that the petitioner has been falsely implicated due to political rivalry as he belongs to the opposition party in the State. The petitioner undertakes to abide by any conditions that may be imposed by this Hon’ble Court and is ready and willing to furnish adequate sureties to the satisfaction of this Hon’ble Court. He finally prays to allow the petition.

5. Learned Assistant Public Prosecutor vehemently opposed the petition and submitted that the petitioner has been in judicial custody since 21.12.2025. It is further submitted that Accused Nos.1 and 2 were caught red-handed while they were in possession of a commercial quantity of white crystalline meth. She would further contend that the investigation is still pending.

6. Considering the submissions made and on perusal of the material on record, this Court observes that the Section 65-B Certificate filed along with the photographs by the learned counsel for the petitioner is not in accordance with law. This Court is of the view that this is not the stage to examine the genuineness or otherwise of the contention raised regarding the timing of arrest of the accused, whether it was at 06:30 a.m. or 08:30 p.m., as the same pertains to disputed questions of fact and falls within the realm of defence, which cannot be gone into at this stage. Be that as it may, Accused Nos. 3 to 5 have already been enlarged on bail by the Trial Court. In the absence of criminal antecedents against the petitioner and having regard to the fact that similarly placed co-accused have been granted bail, and considering the submissions advanced, this Court is inclined to grant bail to the petitioner/Accused No.1.

7. In the result, the Criminal Petition is allowed with the following conditions:

                  i. The petitioner/Accused No. 1 shall be enlarged on bail on executing bond for a sum of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only) with two sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the learned I Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Vijayawada.

                  ii. The petitioner/Accused No. 1 shall not commit or indulge in commission of any offence in future.

                  iii. The petitioner/Accused No. 1 shall cooperate with the investigating officer in further investigation of the case and shall make himself available for interrogation by the Investigating Officer as and when required.

                  iv. The petitioner/Accused No. 1 shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing such facts to the Court.

                  v. The petitioner/Accused No. 1 shall surrender his passport, if any, to the concerned Court. If he claims that he does not have a passport, he shall submit an affidavit to that effect to the concerned Court.

                  vi. The petitioner/Accused No. 1, shall appear before the concerned Station House Officer, once in a week i.e., on every Saturday between 10:00 am and 05:00 pm, till filing of charge sheet.

8. In the event of violation of any of the above conditions, the prosecution shall be at liberty to seek cancellation of bail.

9. It is also made clear that the observations made in this order are only for the purpose of deciding the bail application and they shall not be construed as opinion on the merits of the Crime.

As a sequel thereto, the miscellaneous applications, if any, pending in this Criminal Petition shall stand closed.