Kerala High Court Grants Bail To Narayana Das Accused Of Implicating Beautician Sheela Sunny In False NDPS Case

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas observed that he has been in custody for around 104 days and that his arrest is vitiated since the grounds were not mentioned to him.

The judge observed, "On a perusal of the arrest memo, it is noticed that except for referring to the provision of law, there is no reference to any of the grounds for arrest. Similarly, in the notice of arrest given to the father of the petitioner, again there is only a reference to the provision of law. In the absence of any specific reference to the grounds for arrest of the petitioner, his arrest stands vitiated..."

The prosecution case is that the accused/petitioner Narayana Das is a close friend of one Liviya Jose, who is the sister of the daughter-in-law of Sheela. Livya had animosity towards Sheela and in order to help Liviya seek vengeance against Sheela, the accused planted certain articles having close resemblance to LSD stamps in the scooter of Sheela. Thereafter, he called the excise officer and gave false tip saying that there was contraband in Sheela's scooter. This led to the arrest of Sheela and she was in custody for around 74 days.

Later, the Forensic Laboratory report on the contraband revealed that the contraband seized was not LSD and a case was registered against the petitioner for falsely implicating Sheela in the fake case. He was arrayed as Accused No. 1 in Crime No. 5/2023 of Excise Range Office, Chalakkudy, Thrissur and arrested on April 29.

The offences alleged against the accused are those under Sections 58(2), 28, 29 of 22(c), 29 of 60(3) of the NDPS Act and sections 120B [Punishment of criminal conspiracy], 195 [Giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of offence punishable with imprisonment for life or imprisonment], 116 [Abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment.—if offence be not committed] and 34 [Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention] of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier, on 25^th July, the Session Judge, Thrissur had denied him bail in his second bail application. The first bail application was denied on 30.05.2025.

In 2023, the High Court had quashed the FIR against Sheela Sunny after recording the report of the Assistant Excise Commissioner, which stated that the contraband seized from her was not LSD stamps as alleged.

Another bench of the High Court had also considered the anticipatory bail application of Liviya Jose and the same was later closed since she was not arrayed as an accused in the case. Later, she was arrayed as 2^nd accused and arrested and remanded on June 13.

Case No: Bail Appl. No. 9137/2025

Case Title: M.N. Narayana Das v. State of Kerala

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 495

Counsel for the petitioner: Salim V.S., Shanavas S., K. Muhammed Thoyyin, A.M. Fousi, A.B. Ajin

Counsel for the respondents: Sreeja V., Sr. PP

Click to Read/Download Judgment