Mumbai: In a setback to Mumbai Police, a special NDPS court here today granted bail to constable Dharmaraj Khaloke who was arrested in connection with the seizure of a dozen kilogram of contraband from his cupboard in the Marine Drive police station here. “The special court has granted bail to Khaloke on a bond of Rs 5 lakhs,” said his lawyer Jayesh Wani.
Khaloke had moved the bail application in the court saying that the first test report concluded that the alleged ‘contraband’ seized from his locker was not mephedrone but was monosodium glutamate (MSG), while the result of the second test has not yet come. “We argued that an accused cannot be kept in jail because the test report have not yet arrived,” Wani said. He also argued that the alleged drug queen Shashikala, alias Baby Patankar, and former police inspector of anti-narcotics cell (both arrested in the case) have been granted bail and hence Khaloke should also be released from jail on grounds of parity.
Mumbai Police, however prayed that his bail must be rejected as drugs were recovered from his official locker and if he is let out he may tamper with the evidence. Accepting Wani’s argument, special NDPS Judge U B Hejib granted bail to Khaloke. The judge directed him to attend the crime branch every Monday and not to leave the city without the permission of the court.
Kalokhe, who was posted at Marine Drive police station, was arrested on March 9 this year after 110 kg of mephedrone drug, the market value of which runs into “crores of rupees” was seized from his residence in a village under Khandala taluka in Satara district. The next day, 12 kg of mephedrone, was seized from Kalokhe’s locked cupboard at the Marine Drive police station here, along with Rs 30,000 cash. After a thorough interrogation by Satara police, Kalokhe was sent to judicial custody there.
