E-Paper
Chandigarh: Man awarded 10-yr jail for carrying banned drugs
As per police, the accused was arrested on the T point between Sector 40-C and 40-D on January 14, 2020. A case under Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act had been registered at the Sector 39 police station at the time
A local court has sentenced Som Bahadur, 37, of Pabhat village, Zirakpur, after he was caught with 13 injections containing buprenorphine and seven with pheniramine maleate in 2020.
As per police, the accused was arrested on the T point between Sector 40-C and 40-D on January 14, 2020. A case under Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act had been registered at the Sector 39 police station at the time.
The prosecution examined seven witnesses. The defence, meanwhile, argued that the investigation was faulty and no notice under Section 50 of the NDPS Act was served upon the accused and the search was not conducted in the presence of a gazetted officer or magistrate.
The court observed that it was established that the chemical the 26.2 gm of buprenorphine found was commercial in nature as it was above the 20 gm threshold and convicted the accused.
When the quantum of sentence was announced, the accused prayed for leniency, arguing that it was his first offence and that he was the sole breadwinner of the family. The court, however, observed that there were no mitigating circumstances on the file before convicting him.
