The Rajasthan High Court granted relief to an individual who was wrongly implicated in an NDPS case by the police. The police had arrested him based solely on the statement of a co-accused, without conducting any investigation to verify his identity.

In this case, the police initially arrested a man after seizing narcotics from him. During interrogation, the arrested man claimed he had obtained the contraband from someone named 'Pappu Ram' residing in Sujanpura, MP. Relying only on this statement, the police arrested the petitioner and charged him under the NDPS Act, without verifying his identity or interviewing witnesses from the village.

The petitioner contested the charges, presenting various documents, including his Aadhar Card, Voter ID Card, school certificates, driving license, residential certificate, and a certificate from the local Gram Panchayat, all proving that his name was not 'Pappu Ram' but 'Bhopal Singh.'

The High Court noted that the evidence clearly showed the petitioner was not the individual referred to by the co-accused. The Court emphasized that in the absence of direct evidence linking the petitioner to the crime, he could not be charged based solely on the co-accused's statement.

The state's counsel argued that at the stage of framing charges, detailed evaluation of evidence was unnecessary, and mere suspicion was sufficient to proceed with the trial.

However, the Court rejected this argument, asserting that such suspicion must be grounded in legally admissible evidence that could be used against the accused during the trial. Without such evidence, the accused's fundamental right to a fair trial must be upheld.

The Court concluded that there was no evidence connecting the petitioner to the individual named by the co-accused. As a result, the trial court's decision to frame charges against the petitioner was deemed illegal and improper. The petitioner was subsequently released without charges.

Case Title: Bhopal Singh v State of Rajasthan