Procedural lapses in drug case, court acquits man

Time of India

2 days ago

Mumbai: Observing that in cricket, the benefit of doubt goes in favour of the batsman, likewise, every benefit of doubt in criminal cases goes in favour of the accused. In yet another case of procedural lapses, a special NDPS court on Thursday acquitted a 39-year-old man, 16 years after he had been accused of possessing and intending to sell 25 kg of a party drug, methamphetamine, worth Rs 3 crore at Goregaon (E).
The accused, Veer Bahadur Singh, absconded after his bail was cancelled by the Supreme Court. He was finally rearrested in 2023.
"Due to the mixing of the contents of seven packets and again nine packets each before drawing any representative sample from each polythene bag, not only was the sanctity of the case property in the individual packet lost, but also the evidence as to how much each individual container weighed is also lost.
Therefore, flouting of the above guidelines has caused prejudice to the accused as the punishment provided for the offence alleged is based on the quantity of the contraband recovered," the judge said.
The judge stated that when the recovery of the contraband from the conscious possession of the accused after following all the procedural safeguards is not proved, there is no cogent, clinching, and reliable evidence about the fact that the accused conspired to procure, transport, or possess the contraband or abetted the commission of the offence.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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On Jun 8, 2009, at 5.45 pm, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) received a tip that a car was to transfer about 25 kg of methamphetamine to a taxi later in the evening. An NCB team began surveillance at the spot, and at 8.50 pm, a taxi arrived, followed by the car. Three individuals, later identified as three accused, exited the car, carrying a carton and a maroon trolley bag. They transferred these items to the taxi's trunk after the taxi driver, Singh, opened it.
NCB officers surrounded the taxi and caught the four.
On inspection, the maroon bag contained seven packets, and the carton contained 18 packets of a white crystalline substance. Field tests confirmed the substance was methamphetamine. Each of the 25 packets weighed 1 kg. The contents were combined into three main bags, weighing 7 kg, 9 kg, and 9 kg from which 5-gram samples were taken for further analysis. It was alleged that one of the accused provided information about another who allegedly arranged the transfer and another who manufactured the drug in Patiala.
A total of seven accused were arrested in the case. In two other trials conducted earlier, the other accused were acquitted.