Mumbai: The special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court has discharged a 25-year-old man from Rajasthan booked for possessing 240gm of mephedrone (MD, a narcotic substance) in July 2021, when he was a student. The court proclaimed him innocent as the chemical analysis report of the contraband was negative for any narcotic substance.
About The Case
As per the prosecution’s case, after getting specific information from sources, officers from VB Nagar police raided a room at Nirmal Lodging and Boarding in Kurla on July 24, 2021. The police found two young students – Anil Babulal Batham and Karan Jangliya Batham – with 240gm and 230gm of MD, respectively. A third accused, Kalpesh Damor, absconded and is yet to be traced.
The samples were drawn and sent for forensic examination, and the duo was taken into custody. The duo was released on bail in March 2022 after realising that the contraband was not MD and the police had failed to carry out a field test of the contraband, leaving the accused to suffer incarceration for over nine months.
Anil’s lawyer Deepa Amati Muttagi had later filed for discharge, citing the presence of Paracetamol and Diclofenac in the substance, which is neither narcotic nor psychotropic or a controlled substance covered under the NDPS Act.
