The Karnataka High Court has declined to interfere with a trial court’s order of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) taking cognisance of offences against Kerala native Rijesh Ravindran, 37, in a drug racket case spread over Karnataka and Kerala.
Justice H.B. Prabhakara Sastry dismissed the petition while observing that the order of taking cognisance of offence by the trial court cannot be found fault with.
On the contention made on behalf of the accused that the trial court could not have taken cognisance of the offence as the NCB had not filed the report in the manner prescribed in the law, the High Court found nothing wrong in the procedure followed by either the NCB or the trial court.
The court also declined to accept the contention made on behalf of the petitioner-accused that the NCB had not filed the report before the trial court within 180 days.
The order pointed out that the complaint lodged by the NCB is nothing but the final report of investigation as per the procedure prescribed under the the Narcotic Substances and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
Drugs seized
The NCB, during a raid at Rijesh’s apartment in Chokkanahalli during August 2020, had seized 40 g of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 180 bolts of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).
The NCB had raided his apartment based on information given by another accused, Mohammed Anoop, who was said to have told the NCB that he had supplied 40 g of MDMA tablets to Rijesh.