The High Court of Bombay last week granted bail to a Nashik resident arrested by local police authorities for allegedly possessing 84 kilograms (kg) of poppy straw.

Acting on a tip-off, Police had intercepted Ratan Morade on Aug 6, 2018, & had found 3 polythene bags in his scooter that allegedly contained 3 kg & 150 grams (gm) of poppy straw.

Police alleged that he later led them to a house from where another 81 kg of poppy straw, kept in 3 bags, was seized.

Morade’s arrest also led to the arrest of one of his accomplices, from whom another 18 kg 400 gm of poppy straw was recovered.

Morade & his accomplice were booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

Morade had moved High Court for bail.

His lawyer Ayaz Khan, pointed out the discrepancies in weight & seal on the samples drawn from 6 bags, allegedly containing poppy straw, recovered from the scooter of the accused & the house pointed out by him.

Khan also pointed out that there was nothing on record to show ownership of the house from where 81 kg of poppy straw was recovered & that Morade was in exclusive possession of the contraband material.

Justice CV Bhadang accepted the argument & granted bail to the Nashik resident.

The Judge noted that though the Police claimed that they had drawn separate samples from each of the 6 bags recovered from the accused.

However, the record of the inventory prepared before the Judicial Magistrate on Aug 8, 2018, showed that the samples contained between 0.4gm & 0.6 gm of poppy straw.

Justice Bhadang noted that the record mentioned that the samples were resealed with the seal of the Magistrate.

But, the covering letter of the Police & the chemical analyser’s report also indicated that the samples were bearing seal of the Police Station & weight of the samples ranged between 49.9 & 50.2 gm.

Justice Bhadang said that “Prima facie it appears that the samples which were produced before the magistrate, were not weighing 50 gm. At any rate the samples which were produced & resealed before the magistrate are not the ones, which were sent to the chemical analyser".

At this stage there is also no evidence about the ownership or possession of the house from where 81 kg of poppy straw was recovered, said the Judge & ordered Morade to be released on executing a personal recognisance (PR) bond of Rs 25,000 with one or 2 solvent sureties in the same amount. 

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