New Delhi: A man who was arrested with 1 kilo and a 10 grams of charas got bail after the Charas lost 10 grams of weight while it was in police custody, according to a report. Sunil Nayak, a Mumbai-based businessman was arrested in March this year with 1 kilo and 10 grams of charas, a cannabis concentrate. But when it was weighted before court, the charas weighed only one kilograms.
Bombay High Court Justice MS Karnik factored in the weight of the seized contraband measured before the Esplanade court as inventory. Sunil Nayak’s lawyer told the court that the weight of the contraband was of “intermediate, non-commercial quantity” and it is the one that the court had to rely on, as per a Times Of India report.
Charas, which if consumed for a long period is said to cause hallucinations, as per the National Narcotics Coordination Portal, comes under cannabis under the NDPS Act. Within the Act, more than one kilo of the substance is termed “commercial quantity”.
After Nayak’s lawyer argued that the charas in his client’s possession was not commercial quantity, public prosecutor PH Gaikwad said Nayak had been arrested with one other person who was carrying 1 kilo and 20 grams of charas, and thus combined, they indeed have commercial quantity.
He further said that a 59-day delay in drawing samples before the magistrate was beyond the control of the agency, and during this time, the charas dried and its weight dropped. Nayak’s lawyer said the argument of charas drying was an afterthought.
The Bombay High Court said the fact that the time taken to comply with section 52 A of the NDPS Act (inventory before magistrate) was beyond the control of the prosecutiong agency and could affect the prosecution case would have to be considered during trial.
The court said for the personal liberty of the accused, it was appropriate to go by the weight taken before the court, while clarifying that it expressed no opinion on the merits.
“Prima facie, except for the fact that the accused were found together, there is nothing on record to indicate they were indulging in these activities jointly or in connivance with each other, ” the court said, as per the TOI report.
With the possibility of trial beginning soon remote and with Nayak not having any criminal antecedents, he was granted bail.
