HC rejects bail of accused in 2023 ‘cocaine smuggling’ case

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has rejected the bail of an accused in a case dating back to 2023 where a large consignment of narcotics that was allegedly being smuggled into Kolkata from Mumbai was seized from him at the Howrah Railway Station.

The Bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray was moved by the petitioner Mahesh Prasad Jaiswal with an application for bail. His counsel submitted that requirements under Section 50 of NDPS Act, 1985 were not complied with.

Furthermore, the contraband articles which were allegedly seized at the time of arrest were not actually sent to the forensic laboratory for test since the nature and particulars of the representative sample drawn from the contraband do not match with the seized contraband. The counsel for the state opposed the prayer for bail and submitted that requirements laid down in Section 50 of the NDPS Act were duly complied with and further the representative samples were correctly drawn from the seized contraband articles.

Whatever submission regarding alleged deficiency in the seizure list was made by the petitioner’s counsel relates to the first seizure of the contraband articles and not related to the second seizure. “There are sufficient incriminating materials against the present petitioner”. The court, after perusal of the case diary, observed that as per requirement of Section 50 of NDPS Act, the petitioner was served with a notice informing him that he had the right to be searched in presence of a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate but the petitioner refused that right in writing.

The court rejected the bail petition and observed that if the petitioner after knowing that he has that right, chooses to refuse it, and if such search is not done in presence of such officer accordingly, the same cannot be considered as violation of Section 50 of the

said Act.In 2023, a team of Special Task Force of Bengal foiled a smuggling bid and arrested two persons with 86 grams of cocaine at Howrah Railway Station. One of the arrested was Jaiswal who is a resident of Kolkata. The total amount of the narcotic seized reportedly valued at Rs 20 lakh.