Court acquits Govandi resident, says police cooked up drugs seizure story

A Mumbai court acquitted a man charged with possession of drugs after his lawyer proved he was illegally detained before his arrest by the police. The court found the prosecution's evidence inconsistent and unreliable.

A special NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act court recently acquitted a 28-year-old Govandi resident after the defence counsel proved that he was illegally detained hours before he was formally shown arrested by the anti-narcotic cell (ANC) of Mumbai police. The man, Vikram Thakur, had been behind bars since the day of his arrest in 2019 for possession of 200 grams of mephedrone.

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As per the prosecution case, on the night of September 16, 2019, ANC officials were patrolling in Fort. When passing though Cavasji Patel Street, they noticed a man standing near an electric pole with a black bag in his hand. The police found his movements suspicious and on checking his bag, they found the narcotic substance in it.

Thakur denied all the allegations before the court and claimed that he was picked up from Krishna Restaurant and Bar, Govandi East, around 3.30 pm on September 16, and nothing was found from his possession.

His lawyer Ayaz Khan called for the CCTV footage of the restaurant. The footage was played in the court and as Khan argued, two police constables of ANC, Azad Maidan unit, were seen with Thakur at the restaurant in the afternoon.

The court said there was force in the defence version that the accused was already picked up from Krishna Restaurant and Bar, in the afternoon, and the prosecution version regarding the search and seizure at Fort during night hours appeared to be the outcome of a cooked-up story. “It is for this reason that the two versions cannot stand together. Prosecution evidence is not cogent, consistent and trustworthy,” the court said and acquitted Thakur.