Should weight of paper be included in weight of LSD? Bombay High Court to decide in appeal by NCB in case related to Sushant Singh Rajput death

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has approached the Bombay High Court to decide on whether the weight of paper ought to be included while weighing Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) for prosecution under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

. NCB filed an appeal assailing an order of the Special NDPS Court, Mumbai passed in the application filed by one Anuj Keshwani, who is an accused in the drug case related to the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The Special Judge had directed NCB to send the sample in Keshwani's case to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat to ascertain the weight of purported LSD drugs sans the blot paper and whether the weight of the sample included the weight of the paper.

NCB has opposed this order, seeking a stay till the pendency of the appeal.

. Advocate Shreeram Shirsat, appearing for NCB, sought for a short adjournment as the Additional Solicitor General wanted to address the Court on the question of law.

Advocates Tareq Sayed and Gayatri Gokhale, appearing for Keshwani, requested the Court to direct NCB to proceed with the re-weighing of the drugs as per the directions of the lower court, so that by the next date, the report is present, which may be considered or not depending on the outcome of the appeal.

. Shirsat vehemently opposed the prayer, as it would amount to deciding the interim prayer sought for in the appeal.

In view of this, Justice AS Gadkari adjourned the hearing to Wednesday to decide on the interim prayer.

. As per the FSL report mentioned in the chargesheet, the weight of the LSD sample was 0.62 gram. The commercial quantity for LSD as per NDPS Act is 0.1 gram.

The report was silent about whether the weight of the LSD drops includes the weight of the blot paper along with he LSD drops.

. NCB's appeal assailed the order of the Special NDPS Court on the ground that the entire NDPS Act ought to have been considered by the Special Judge to consider the weight of the drug.

It was argued that it was never the intention of the Act to lay punishment based on the "pure drug content" and the term "narcotics" also included mixtures and preparations.

. Further, it was stated that the Act included the "street weight" of the drug in the form in which it was sold rather than the weight of the active component.

The most common form of LSD available on the streets is drop of LSD solution dried onto a piece of paper or gelatinous sheet and pieces of blotting papers. Hence the form in which the drug was sold contained the paper as well, NCB stated.

. In view of this, the appeal prayed that the weight of the paper also should be considered while determining the quantity of the LSD as a commercial or small quantity.

NCB submitted that the order of the Special judge permitting the re-weighing of the sample was in consonance with the order of the Supreme Court in the case of E Michael Raj v. Intelligence Officer, Narcotic Control Bureau . However, this order was held to be "not a good law" by the Supreme Court in the case of Hira Singh v. Union of India .

Should weight of paper be included in weight of LSD? Bombay High Court to decide in appeal by NCB in case related to Sushant Singh Rajput death

Neha Joshi

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