Mumbai: HC grants bail to man arrested with 84kg poppy straw

Police claimed that Ratan Morade later led them to a house from where another 81 kg of poppy straw, kept in three bags, was seized

The Bombay high court (HC) last week granted bail to a Nashik resident arrested by local police authorities for allegedly possessing 84 kilograms (kg) of poppy straw.

Bombay high court. (HT archive)

Acting on a tip off, police had intercepted Ratan Morade on August 6, 2018 and had found three polythene bags in his scooter that allegedly contained 3 kg and 150 grams (gm) of poppy straw.

Police claimed that he later led them to a house from where another 81 kg of poppy straw, kept in three bags, was seized.

Morade’s arrest also led to the arrest of one of his accomplices, from whom another 18 kg 400 gm of poppy straw was recovered.

Morade and his accomplice were booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

Morade had moved HC for bail.

His counsel, advocate Ayaz Khan, pointed out the discrepancies in weight and seal on the samples drawn from six bags, allegedly containing poppy straw, recovered from the scooter of the accused and the house pointed out by him.

Khan also pointed out that there was nothing on record to show ownership of the house from where 81 kg of poppy straw was recovered and that Morade was in exclusive possession of the contraband material.

Justice CV Bhadang accepted the argument and granted bail to the Nashik resident.

The judge noted that though the police claimed that they had drawn separate samples from each of the six bags recovered from the accused.

However, the record of the inventory prepared before the judicial magistrate on August 8, 2018, showed that the samples contained between 0.4gm and 0.6 gm of poppy straw.

Justice Bhadang noted that the record mentioned that the samples were resealed with the seal of the magistrate.

But, the covering letter of the police and the chemical analyser’s report also indicated that the samples were bearing seal of the police station and weight of the samples ranged between 49.9 and 50.2 gm.

“Prima facie it appears that the samples which were produced before the magistrate, were not weighing 50 gm. At any rate the samples which were produced and resealed before the magistrate are not the ones, which were sent to the chemical analyser,” said Justice Bhadang.

At this stage there is also no evidence about the ownership or possession of the house from where 81 kg of poppy straw was recovered, said the judge and ordered Morade to be released on executing a personal recognisance (PR) bond of Rs 25,000 with one or two solvent sureties in the same amount.