Quantum of contraband not important if corroborative material present: Mumbai Court denies bail to Armaan Kohli

Quantity of contraband is not always relevant when deciding bail plea under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) if there is corroborative evidence present, a Mumbai Court recently said while refusing to grant bail to actor Armaan Kohli in a drug case ( Armaan Kohli v. State of Maharashtra ).

. Special Judge AA Joglekar observed that while a roving enquiry is not necessary in a bail application, the only rider was whether a prime facie exists or not and whether a reasonable ground existed for believing guilt of a person.

"It may be a case that there is a small quantity or quantity below small quantity or the quantity in intermediate form but that won’t be a quintessential for grant of bail. More especially in the light of the fact that there is corroborative material in prima-facie which shows the involvement of the applicant/accused in the commission of the crime and secondly that the investigation is at nascent stage," Judge Joglekar said.

. Kohli was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau for possession of 1.2 grams of cocaine, a quantity falling under small category meant for consumption. Later, NCB also arrested the drug peddler from whom commercial quantity was recovered.

NCB's case was that two accused in the case were main suppliers who supplied narcotic substances on a regular basis. They alleged that the roles of the accused were connected and intertwined with each other and cannot be dealt separately in isolation.

. Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda appearing for Kohli stated that considering the quantum of contraband recovered from Kohli, the charges were bailable and there was no evidence showing any connection of Kohli with the supply chain.

There was also no evidence that Kohli was indulging in financing of illicit trafficking and harbouring of offenders as was alleged under Section 27A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, it was contended.

. Countering these submissions, Special Public Prosecutor Advait Sethna submitted that in all, seven accused were arrested for recovery of contraband and each accused were connected to each other hence offence under Section 29 of the NDPS Act which deals with conspiracy has been invoked.

He also argued that the investigation was at a nascent stage and great prejudice would be caused to the ongoing investigation if bail is granted.

. Sethna showed certain chats exchanged between Kohli and other accused in the case along with the statements recorded by the NCB officials.

. After going through the material obtained during the investigation, the Court opined that prima facie it seemed that Kohli was well connected with the co-accused.

"Although the investigation is at a nascent stage and is under progress, the said chats if corroborated with the bank transactions match approximately with the figures held under transactions and therefore the factum of connivance in prima-facie cannot be negated," the order stated.

. The judge stated that from the evidence in hand, it was clear that Sections 27A, 28 and 29 of NDPS Act were duly invoked pursuant to the involvement of accused for financing illicit trafficking and harbouring offenders.

The investigating material prima-facie indicated that the finances held were in conjunction with illicit trafficking and purchase of drug and therefore, required further probe.

. Having held this, the Court rejected the bail application holding that the rigours of Section 37 (which places restrictions on grant of bail) will apply in view of the fact that Section 29 of the Act has been invoked,

. This case was submitted by the NCB to the Special NDPS judge who was hearing the bail application filed by Aryan Khan who is the prime accused in the cruise ship drug case.

. [Read order]

Quantum of contraband not important if corroborative material present: Mumbai Court denies bail to Armaan Kohli

Neha Joshi

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