A special court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has ruled that the charge of financing illegal trafficking or trading of drugs does not apply to Rhea Chakraborty‘s brother Showik Chakraborty who was in jail for past three months. The court referred to Bombay High Court’s order in which it had granted bail to Rhea Chakraborty but not her brother stating that he had been in direct contact with the drug peddlers.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had imposed Section 27A of NDPS Act against the siblings which deal with ‘financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders’ and leads to a punishment of 10-20 years of rigorous imprisonment. However in the recent judgement by the special court, judge GB Gurao stated that there was no ingredient of the Section 27A of NDPS Act in the case.
In its order, the court noted, “It is alleged that applicant has procured Ganja for Sushant Singh Rajput. Admittedly, the applicant is arrested only on the basis of the statement of co-accused and his statement.” Further, the court also noted, “Section 27A of the NDPS Act is in respect of the financing of illicit trafficking of the drug. It is also not the case of the prosecution is that accused financed to the illicit trafficking of drug and those drugs were supplied to various persons.”
The special court also stated the recent Supreme Court verdict which stripped NCB of its special powers. The court noted, “The confessions made before them do not hold any legal value and ‘are thus inadmissible’ in the court of law and the accused cannot be convicted on the basis of a confessional statement.” For Showik’s arrest, these very confessions were used as evidence against him by NCB. The court also pointed out, “The recovery of contraband from co-accused Anuj Keshwani has no concerned with the applicant.”
