Mumbai, July 15, 2026: A Kalbadevi resident, Saraswati Parma Naidu alias Sarsa, who was allegedly caught by the Anti-Narcotic Cell (ANC) with 1.27 kg of heroin in June 2021, was acquitted by the Special NDPS Court on Wednesday, along with the man accused of supplying her with the contraband, owing to procedural lapses in the collection of samples.
Court Finds Procedural Lapses
Naidu was arrested on June 3, 2021, based on information received by the Police Inspector of the Worli Unit of the ANC. She was apprehended at Princess Street, Kalbadevi, where she was allegedly carrying the contraband for delivery to another person. In her statement, she claimed that she had obtained the contraband from Bhandup resident Raju Mudliar alias Raja.
Raja was arrested on October 20, 2021, by the agency on the basis of Naidu's statement. During his custodial interrogation, 98 grams of heroin was allegedly recovered from an open space at Sandhurst Road.
Naidu was represented by advocate Shekhar Bhandari, while Raja was represented by advocate V.P. Shinde, who argued that there were several procedural lapses in the investigation.
FSL Report Held Inadmissible
Special Judge N.P. Mehta, after considering the evidence, observed that “when the contraband came to be recovered, it was not sent before the jurisdictional Magistrate for inventory and for taking down of samples. While sending the samples for FSL test, the collected samples should fulfil the mandate of Section 52A of the NDPS Act, which states that the Court should be satisfied regarding the safe keeping of the sample right from the time of seizure till the same reached the FSL office.”
The court said that since no such procedure was adopted, “the FSL report cannot be read in evidence and when the FSL report is kept aside, then the seized substance is Narcotic Drug cannot be said to be established,” the court said.
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The court further said that the arrest of Naidu and the arrest of Raja could not be said to be connected with the same offence due to a gap of several months. Besides, the court also questioned the identity of Raja as the same person from whom Naidu was alleged to have received the contraband. In view of these lapses, the court acquitted both the accused.
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