The Bombay High Court has granted bail to one Chand Riyaz Shaikh who was allegedly found with 400gm of commercial quantity of mephedrone in 2021, observing the documents prima facie raised serious doubts about the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) case.
Justice Anuja Prabhudessai granted bail to Shaikh against Rs1 lakh surety noting: “Prima facie raises serious doubts about the prosecution case.”
Shaikh was arrested by the NCB in January 2021 and the agency allegedly recovered 400gm of mephedrone, called meow meow on the streets. At the relevant time, Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede was the NCB zonal director in Mumbai.
Jan 2021 incident
According to the NCB, on January 2, 2021, around 4.15pm, they received information about accused Chand Riyaz Shaikh delivering contraband at Bandra Railway Station. As per the intelligence input, the accused had concealed the illegal substance in the trunk of his two-wheeler. He was intercepted at around 11pm with four zip-lock pouches, each of which contained a white-coloured substance. This was later found to be mephedrone, as per the NCB. Shaikh approached the HC after the special court rejected his bail plea.
Shaikh’s lawyers pointed out that the panchanama, which was allegedly drawn at the place of the incident, as well as the notice issued under Section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act, which was served on Shaikh on the spot, madereference to the crime number. They contended that a case number was attached to the court document even before the matter was taken up by the court. This raised doubts about the NCB’s recovery of drugs from Shaikh.
Indication of a crime number raises serious doubt: Court
Justice Prabhudessai noted that the NCB had information that the contraband was to be delivered at 11pm and that a search was to be conducted after sunset. It was therefore obligatory on the part of the officer to obtain a warrant or authorisation.
The judge said: “The search and seizure which is in contravention of mandatory provision... prima facie makes the recovery doubtful.”
The high court also agreed with the defence submission that the notice preceded the registration of the FIR and even mentioned a crime number.
“Indication of a crime number in the notice which was allegedly issued on the spot, before registration of the crime, prima facie raises serious doubt about the prosecution case,” the court noted.
The court questioned the method of recovering the substance from Shaikh. “In my prima facie view, the sample was not drawn in consonance with the standing orders, hence prima facie the sample sent to CSFL was not the representative sample,” it added.
.png)
