The two students, who were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly possessing cocaine, were granted bail on Thursday by the Esplanade magistrate’s court.
The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) arrested Mohit Ramchandani (23) and Efjan Beig (19) from near Bhavan’s College, Girgaum Chowpatty.
Ramchandani and Beig were produced in court around 2.45 pm. Both are college drop outs.
When the court called out their names, the duo stood up with folded hands and told their names. The defence told the court that the quantity of contraband recovered from the accused (2 gm from each) was not enough to term it as ‘commercial quantity’.
As per law, a drug quantity of over 100 gm is seen as being ‘commerical’ (for sale).
The police had also detained seven others on suspicion of consuming drugs.
The ANC told the court that it needed the custody of the two youngsters to ascertain if they had other accomplices and to find out if the youngsters had stashed away contraband elsewhere.
The ANC, through Public Prosecutor Ashok Kampkar, told the court that the youth had told the police that they acquired the contraband from a Nigerian identified only as Yonous. There are about 4,500 illegal Nigerians in the city. The ANC has a record of 3,000 major peddlers in the city.
{{/usCountry}}The ANC, through Public Prosecutor Ashok Kampkar, told the court that the youth had told the police that they acquired the contraband from a Nigerian identified only as Yonous. There are about 4,500 illegal Nigerians in the city. The ANC has a record of 3,000 major peddlers in the city.
{{/usCountry}}Advocates Nilofer Sayyed and Dinesh Mota, who appeared for the accused, told the court that the quantity recovered from Ramchandani and Beig could not be called possession of ‘commercial quantity’.
The defence advocates argued that as per provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, both the accused could be granted bail. Accepting the defence’s contention, the magistrate granted bail to the two against a surety of Rs 10,000.