Drug case: Citing long jail stay, SC gives bail
Mumbai: Noting his prolonged incarceration and the trial's slow progress, Supreme Court has granted bail to an alleged drug peddler arrested in connection with a narcotics case probe linked to the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The accused, Haris Faizanullah Khan, has been behind bars since June 2021. "[He] already suffered incarceration of nearly four years, and only eight out of 50 witnesses have been examined in the trial thus far," noted the SC bench, while setting aside Bombay's HC's Aug 2024 bail rejection order. It directed the trial court to release Khan on conditions it deems appropriate.
NC has accused Khan of being linked to a drug cartel run by Parvez Khan alias Chinku Pathan, a close associate of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
It had seized a small quantity of drugs from his residence at the time of his arrest.
In court, Sana Raees Khan, representing Khan, said the quantity—3gm of mephedrone—was a non-commercial amount and insufficient for prosecution under Section 22(c) of NDPS Act, and also cited procedural irregularities, such as the seized substance being neither properly weighed nor certified as per standards under Section 52-A of the Act. —S Ahmed Ali
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