When a special court in Mumbai offered bail to two residents of Orissa who were arrested in the October 2 raid, the mere presence of one person on the cruise ship that allegedly recovered drugs from there does not prove that they were conspiring with other defendants.
After the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai and allegedly seized drugs, Avin Sahu and Manish Rajgaria were arrested along with Aryan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and others. The two were granted bail on Tuesday — the first such order for any of the 20 defendants in the case — but the detailed verdict was announced on Wednesday. The case of Sahu and Rajgaria was also reflected in the bail hearing of Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha by the Mumbai High Court on Wednesday.
Merchant’s lawyer, Amit Desai, pointed out that a special NDPS court had granted Sahu and Rajgaria bail and claimed that the charges against their clients were the same. However, in its judgment, the NDPS Special Court stated that the cases involving Sahu and Rajgaria were different because there was no preliminary evidence that they were conspired and abetted.
The court stated that there is no preliminary evidence that they are part of any larger network, and their case can be distinguished from the cases of others who are accused of conspiracy. “The defendant failed to provide any evidence on the record to prove that he had contact with any defendant or had contact with the co-defendant in any way. The prosecution failed to prove the relationship between the applicant and the co-defendant. Conspiracy.
Just because the applicant was on the cruise ship, it cannot be said that he and the accomplice conspired,” Special NDPS Judge Vaibhav Patil ruled. At the bail hearing, the Special Prosecutor Advait Sethna argued that all the arrested defendants (20) are related to each other and clearly stipulated the provisions under Article 28 and Article 29 (punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy)) of the NDPS Law. offense.
News Source : Hindustan Times
