Kolkata: Observing that possession is an essential element under Section 54 of NDPS Act to shift the burden on the accused, Calcutta High Court quashed criminal proceedings against proprietors of two medicine distributor companies in a case of cross-border narcotic smuggling. The bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh was moved by the two petitioners after a special NDPS court turned down their prayer for discharge. In 2021, two persons were arrested. More than 1000 phensedyl bottles were seized from them. The Mumbai-based manufacturing company is learnt to have sold the bottles to the first petitioner’s company which then sold it to 12 drug stores in Uttar Pradesh from where they were bought by the company of the second petitioner and supplied to two other medical firms.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said the entire (paper) transaction took place in one single day, raising suspicion since all the companies mysteriously demanded the same quantity of the product. The petitioners were accused of having a nexus in the alleged crime. NCB counsel submitted that seizure was made from Malda near Indo-Bangladesh border. It is a case of smuggling psychotropic substances from one country to another. Further, 12 shops were found to be non-existent. Court observed that all the shops were active and had valid drug licences for sale. Both the petitioners also had valid drug licences. Hence, there is no question on the validity of the single day transaction. “Suspicion, however high, cannot take the place of legal evidence,” the court said.
Nothing was seized from the petitioners. “To bring within its purview the requirements of section 54 of the (NDPS) Act, element of possession of the contraband by the accused is essential so as to shift the burden on the accused,” the court observed. The said section states that in trials under this Act, it may be presumed, unless and until the contrary is proved, that the accused has committed an offence. The court quashed the criminal proceedings against the two petitioners and discharged them from the bail bonds.