Mumbai, A special NDPS court here has acquitted a 34-year-old South African woman in a case related to seizure of 3 kg of heroin, and recommended that action be taken against the probe officials for their gross procedural lapses and “dereliction of duty”.
Special court for Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, in a verdict delivered on February 9, said the failure of Narcotics Control Bureau officers to follow the procedure allowed the woman “to go scot free” in a serious case.
“Whenever stringent punishment is provided, the strict compliance is expected,” said judge U C Deshmukh.
“The prosecution has come with the case that 2.9 kilograms of heroin was seized from the possession of the accused. The quantity and nature of the contraband itself speaks about the seriousness and gravity of the offence,” he noted.
The investigating officer and other team members ought to have followed the due procedure of law scrupulously, the court said.
In a rare move, the court directed that the judgment copy shall be sent to the director general of the NCB, New Delhi, “for necessary action for dereliction of duties of errant officers in this case”.
It also called for a “comprehensive training programme” to prevent such lapses in high-stakes narcotics investigations.
As per the prosecution, the NCB in February 2021 received a tip-off that a South African woman arriving at the Mumbai international airport by a Qatar Airways flight would be carrying narcotics.
Promise Khalishwayo, a hairdresser by profession, was duly intercepted. While her personal search yielded nothing, officers claimed to find 2.960 kg of heroin concealed within the lining of her trolley bag.
But the court in its order highlighted several critical lapses by the NCB team that marred the prosecution’s case.
The personal search of the woman was conducted by a surveillance assistant, who was not authorized to do so under the NDPS Act.
The investigating officer failed to seek CCTV footage until a month later, by which time the data had been overwritten. Further, the prosecution failed to produce independent “panch” during the trial, claiming they could not be traced despite being airport security guards.
The team which intercepted the woman had no woman officer though the NCP had information about the accused 12-14 hours prior to her arrival, which further showed “recklessness, negligence and dereliction of duty”, the court said.
“Upshot of the above discussion, the prosecution has miserably failed to prove charges levelled against the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” the court held, while letting off the South African national.
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