HC grants bail to man arrested with 50kg marijuana

The Bombay high court granted bail to a man arrested with 50 kg of cannabis, citing non-compliance with provisions of the NDPS Act.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday granted bail to an Ahmednagar resident arrested with 50 kg of cannabis, after observing that the Anti-Narcotic Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police did not comply with mandatory provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,1985.

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“The search and seizure, which is in contravention of the mandatory provisions of section 42 of the NDPS Act prima facie makes the recovery doubtful,” said justice Anuja Prabhudessai while granting bail to Shivraj Satpute.

According to the ANC, on July 1, 2021, one of its teams was searching for an absconding accused in Malad when the policemen noticed a person, carrying two bags, was trying to flee on seeing the police team.

The ANC team apprehended the man, Vinod Shinde, and claimed to have found 22 kg of cannabis in his bags. Based on Shinde’s information, the police arrested Samadhan Tawde in Nashik two days later and allegedly recovered 10 kg of cannabis from him.

Based on information revealed by Tawde, the police on July 6, 2021, arrested Shivraj Satpute and purportedly recovered 50 kg of cannabis from his residence at Sangamner in Ahmednagar district.

Shivraj moved the high court for bail after the NDPS court rejected his plea on June 22 last year.

His lawyer, Aashish Satpute, argued that the search was conducted at his residence without complying with mandatory requirements of section 42(2) of the NDPS Act, 1985, and therefore the search and seizure was rendered illegal.

Justice Prabhudessai found substance in the argument. The single judge bench noted that the house of the accused was searched and marijuana was seized between sunset and sunrise without any warrant or authorisation and that there was no compliance of section 42.

The court said the search was conducted based on prior information revealed by a co-accused and it was not a case of chance recovery, therefore, it could not be said that the ANC officers had no time to obtain a warrant or authorisation for the search.

The court noted that the samples were taken from the seized contraband without complying with the requirements of section 52 of the NDPS Act.

Besides, the court also took into consideration that the 22-year-old was behind bars for two years and the trial was not likely to start soon as the charges are yet to be framed against the accused persons and ordered Satpute to be released on a personal bond of ₹50,000 and one or two sureties in the same amount.