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Mundra port drug haul: SC refuses to cancel bail granted to accused bizman
Additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the NIA, told a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana that the offences alleged are grave and have the provision of life imprisonment as the maximum sentence
The Supreme Court on Thursday did not allow a National Investigation Agency (NIA) plea seeking the cancellation of the bail granted to accused Harpreet Singh Talwar, alias Kabir Talwar, a Delhi-based bizman, in the Mundra port drugs haul case, saying the agency could seek overturning of the order if he influences witnesses.
Additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the NIA, told a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana that the offences alleged are grave and have the provision of life imprisonment as the maximum sentence.
The law officer said that the case pertained to the sensational recovery of around 3,000 kg of narcotics, which was allegedly procured from Iran and Afghanistan.
The agency got hold of the narcotics and “we do not know how many such consignments have come”, she said. The court expressed unwillingness to consider the plea for cancellation of bail.
The law officer then urged the bench to say that the April 10 Gujarat high court order granting bail to Talwar be not treated as precedent enabling other co-accused to seek bail on similar grounds.
The bench said the NIA can seek cancellation of Talwar’s bail if he influences the witnesses.
It further said the other co-accused cannot seek bail on the grounds of parity in the case as several witnesses are yet to be examined by the special court. The bail applications, if any, of other accused have to be treated on merits, it said.
The high court had granted bail to Talwar after taking note of the fact that all of the 23 sensitive witnesses relevant with regard to Talwar’s role in the case had been examined.
Before this, the high court had granted bail to two other accused — Ishwar Singh, who turned approver for the NIA, and Durga Purna Govindaraju Vaishali, the only woman accused in this case.
Vaishali is a co-owner of Aashi Trading Company, which was allegedly behind the import of the contraband from Afghanistan through the Bandar Abbas port of Iran to Mundra. Heroin was mixed with talc powder.
The 2,988-kg heroin haul at the Mundra port was seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in September 2021.
The NIA has filed multiple chargesheets in this case against many persons, and Talwar was named as accused no. 24. He was behind bars since 2022, before he was granted bail by the high court.
The NIA said that after successfully importing heroin-laden semi-processed talc stones into India through the legal import channel, the narcotrafficker located in Afghanistan, with the help of Pakistan-based intelligence agency ISI and an Iranian middleman, imported the large consignment of 2,988.21 kg of heroin through the same modus operandi.
