A special court in Thane granted bail to a man who was allegedly caught with a banned drug, as police failed to submit a chemical analyser’s report of the seized substance. The court rapped police and stated it had “forgotten to deal with the investigation seriously”.
“It is very important to note the investigating agency, while dealing with such serious offences, have forgotten to deal with the investigation seriously. It appears they have lost sight of the problem of drug addicts, (which) is international and the mafia is working throughout the world. It is a crime against the society and it has to be dealt with iron hands. Use of drugs by young people across the globe has increased,” the court said.
The accused, Virendra Poojari, was arrested by Koparkhairane police in Navi Mumbai in October last year along with another man, Mithun Poojari. Police claimed a search led them to packets containing a white powder, which was established to be methamphetamine after a field test. Police claimed a “huge quantity” — 94 grams, worth up to Rs 4.7 lakh — of the powder was seized from both men. Samples of the powder were sent to a forensic lab to confirm the field test’s findings. The accused in their bail plea said a chargesheet filed against them did not include the forensic report, and therefore the prosecution’s case remains inconclusive about whether the powder was a banned drug.
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The court said the prosecution had not even placed on record the results of the field test and a reference to methamphetamine in the panchnama is not sufficient to keep the men behind bars.
“In absence of any field test report or CA (chemical analysers) report of suspected substance, (it) definitely causes prejudice to the prosecution and more probably to the accused. This is also one of the reasons for delay in trial,” the court said while allowing bail to the accused on a surety of Rs 2 lakh.
