Justice Urmila Phalke (Joshi) granted bail to the accused Shabbir Khan and Munnawar Khan who were accused under Section 20, 22, 29, 25, 27A of the NDPS Act as they were apprehended with 495.600 Kilograms of Ganja (Marijuana) from their vehicle.
It was the contention of the prosecution that based upon secret information, they had laid a trap against the accused persons and had accosted them on Chandrapur- Nagpur road and after completing all the formalities and complying with the mandates as stated under the NDPS Act, they had proceeded to arrest the accused persons and subsequent thereto had filed the chargesheet against them.
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15 july 2025
Advocate Surabhi Prakash Naidu (Godbole) pointed out to the Court that the contention of the prosecution as regards to the allegations falls short on vital aspects. It was argued that going by the version of the documented chargesheet which included the post-trap panchnama, FIR, statement of witnesses, inventory certificate prepared before the learned Magistrate and the CFSL Report; the prosecution had failed to demonstrate that what was seized from the accused persons was in fact in consonance with the definition of Ganja (Marijuana) as had been contemplated under the Act. Adv Surabhi argued that there were glaring discrepancies and shortcomings with regards to the seized contraband and by no stretch of imagination could the seized contraband be termed and declared to be Ganja (Marijuana).
The shortcomings and the contradictory versions which followed from the Post-Trap Panchnama, FIR, Inventory Certificate stood contrary to the CFSL Report, since the contents of the alleged contraband, as had been seized were squarely contradictory to what was received by the Chemical Analysis Department and no explanation in whatsoever manner was forthcoming from the body of the chargesheet as regards to this glaring discrepancy. It was also argued that the process of sampling as had been done was defective from all corners and that, firstly, the prosecution had in the absence of the learned Magistrate taken out samples from the 17 packets and that subsequent thereto, samples from the respective packets which were collected before the learned Magistrate were interpolated by mixing the same from various packets and only one sample was sent for chemical analysis in entirety.
After appreciating the contentions of the accused in consonance with the arguments advanced by the prosecution, the Court opined that the prosecution had miserably failed to corner their allegations within four spheres of the Act and the contraband as was seized, fell short of the requirements as contemplated under the mandated definition of the Act and the accused were directed to be released on bail on furnishing requisite cash security with solvent surety of the like amount.
Advocate Prakash Naidu, Surabhi Naidu (Godbole), Joseph Bastian and Dhruv Sharma appeared for the applicants.
