Prosecutor in Cordelia cruise ship drug raid case resigns from NCB

The resignation letter has been submitted to a senior official of the NCB. The NCB director general will take a final call on the resignation, said an official.

Earlier this week, Advait Sethna had informed a special court that he has tendered his resignation from the NCB’s panel of prosecutors due to health issues. The court was told that the NCB will decide on his plea and the further course of action regarding the cases assigned to him. He will, however, continue to remain the prosecutor in the cases assigned to him till a decision is taken on his resignation. When contacted, Sethna refused to comment on the development.

Sethna was appointed by the NCB as a special public prosecutor in 2020. He was the main prosecutor in the cruise ship drug raid case, in which Aryan was booked last October. Aryan was later given the clean chit by the NCB’s special investigation team (SIT) to which the case was transferred from the agency’s Mumbai zonal unit.

Sethna had appeared for the NCB during Aryan’s first remand on October 3, last year, till the bail applications and other pleas filed by other accused were decided.

In all, 20 people were arrested by the NCB in the case. The SIT gave a clean chit to Aryan and five others in May, this year, while filing a chargesheet against 14 others. Two of the accused, from whom commercial quantities of drugs were allegedly recovered, continue to remain in jail.

Sethna was also representing the NCB against Siddharth Pithani, the flatmate of Rajput, who was arrested last June. Trial in both the cases is yet to begin.

Apart from the special courts designated under the NDPS Act, Sethna has also represented the NCB in matters before the Bombay High Court.