24-05-2025
Five acquitted in drugs case after 21-year trial
Mumbai: In a judgment delivered after a 21-year trial, a special NDPS court acquitted five individuals accused in two interconnected NDPS cases, citing the prosecution's failure to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The accused, Mohammed Omar Mistry, Dharmendra Saroj, Uday Raj Yadav, Atiq-Ur-Rehman, and Shiraj Panjwani, were booked for possession, transportation, import or export, and criminal conspiracy related to 20,000 Buprenorphine ampules. The drugs were allegedly being sold for non-medical purposes.
"As earlier discussed, the prosecution failed to connect the accused with the seized contraband… The entire evidence of prosecution did not tie all accused in one rope.
There is no evidence in the form of WhatsApp chat, CDR, and monetary bank transactions to prove the conspiracy. Thus, prosecution fails to prove the guilt of the accused," Special Judge Mahesh K Jadhav said last week. The judge noted that while Buprenorphine ampule injections were allegedly recovered, the prosecution failed to conclusively prove that the samples sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) were not tampered with.
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A key prosecution witness admitted having undocumented access to the samples and office seals, raising serious doubts about the integrity of the evidence. The accused were out on bail.
It was the prosecution's case that on April 1, 2004, officers from the Narcotic Cell of the Customs Preventive Collectorate intercepted a taxi near JJ Hospital, seizing approximately 20,000 ampules of Buprenorphine, a controlled psychotropic substance.
The operation followed a tip-off regarding the illicit trafficking of the drug. According to officials, intelligence received by an officer indicated that Mohammed Omar Mistry and his associate, Lala Rambhai, were involved in transporting commercial quantities of Buprenorphine without proper documentation from New Delhi.
The information specified that on April 1, 2004, four packages containing a large quantity of Buprenorphine ampules would be transported in a taxi with a particular number, from Lamington Road, to a roadside spot opposite JJ Hospital around 1.30 pm.
Acting on the intelligence, a team of officers proceeded to the designated location.
As surveillance continued, the officers spotted the taxi, matching the description, approaching the hotel with white-coloured boxes loaded on its carrier. In the presence of the panch witnesses, the taxi containing the packages was intercepted.
