Finding progress in the probe & the reasons cited compelling, a special NDPS Court on Thursday granted the Narcotics Control Bureau's SIT (special investigation team) an additional sixty days to submit the chargesheet in the cruise ship drugs bust case. The NCB had moved the petition on Monday seeking an extension of 90 days as the stipulated period of 180 days was coming to an end on Thursday.

Special Judge VV Patil found that the report submitted by the prosecution justified the extension, & the progress of the case was indicated in the 2 report charts. The Court also accepted that the reasons cited by the prosecution as compelling, & cited the gravity of the offence & the number of accused involved to grant the plea "partly".

While seeking the extension, special public prosecutor Advait M Sethna cited Section 36A (4) of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act which states that if it is not possible to complete the investigations within 180 days for certain offences, including those involving commercial quantities of drugs, the special court may give time up to one year. It has to be done depending on the prosecution's report indicating the progress in investigation & specific reasons for detention of the accused beyond 180 days.

Among the 20 accused is actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan who is out on bail. Alleged drug peddlers - Abdul Kadar and Nigerian national Chinedu Igwe - are the only two accused in jail.

Sethna submitted that there were compelling grounds to grant the extension. Sethna said that chemical analysis reports of all the 17 samples of substances allegedly recovered during the investigations prove that they are narcotics. The investigating agency in its plea also cited pandemic related delays. The investigating agency also said that the statements of 69 witnesses have been recorded & those of 15 key suspects are still to be recorded

Urging the Court not to grant the NCB's SIT an extension, Igwe's lawyers Ayaz Khan & Gorakh Liman submitted that scrutinising voluminous digital evidence cannot be grounds for seeking the extension. Khan argued that even in the drugs case relating to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the prosecution had filed the charge sheet even as they were still awaiting reports on the electronic devices from the FSL.

Kadar's lawyers Kushal Mor and Apoorv Srivastava said the plea was made purely to ensure that he remained in jail. He was arrested on Oct 4. While the NCB alleged that it was yet to record the statement of a panch witness, KP Gosavi who is in jail in Pune, Mor said there is no plausible reason why they had not challenged the order of the Court rejecting their pleas for recording his statement in custody.

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