No bail for drug-site techie

The SC refuses bail to a man after overseas customers use his sites to order banned drugs from Indian merchants, reports Bhadra Sinha.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused bail to a man charged under anti-narcotics laws after web sites run by him were used by overseas customers to order banned drugs from Indian merchants.

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Sanjay Kumar Kedia, an IIT alumnus and US-trained software expert had started a BPO operation in which US-based customers wanting to purchase medicines were directed to appropriate pharmaceutical suppliers. Among the orders his firms processed were those for Phentermine and Butalbital, both drugs banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances Act.

Kedia’s argument that his companies were mere intermediaries, and were protected from prosecution under the Information Technology Act, 2000, was not accepted by the court.

The prosecution argued that a person would be guilty even if he did not personally handle a psychotropic substance. It also said that evidence collected so far in the case showed Kedia to have actually been a facilitator between buyers of drugs and certain pharmacies — an argument the judges accepted.