Man held in 20kg ganja seizure by Mumbai police gets bail as samples get mixed up

MUMBAI: Holding that a sample taken and weighed after mixing contents from two bags was "not a representative sample", Bombay HC granted bail to a man arrested in November 2020 for having 21kg of ganja, a commercial quantity.
Under Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 20 kg and more of ganja is commercial quantity. Ibrahim Sayyed, the accused, had sought bail last year from HC. Anti Narcotics Cell of Mumbai police, Bandra Unit, had in November 2020 found him moving with two travel bags in a "suspicious manner''. He tried to flee when a police team approached him, but was caught and his bags seized. Prosecutor R M Pethe said he was found with 11kg of ganja in one bag and 10kg the other. A sample was sent to the forensic lab and it was found to be ganja-- flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant.
Justice Anuja Prabhudessai noted under NDPS Act seeds and leaves would not be covered under the definition of 'ganja' unless they are accompanied by the flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant.
Sayyed's counsel Sana Raees Khan cited a standing order under NDPS Act that governs how samples are taken and stored and argued that the sample sent to the lab was not drawn from each bag, as mandated, but from mixed contents of both bags and thus in violation of rules. Such mixing nixed the sanctity of the process and did not amount to a representative sample, as held by Delhi high court last year, she said.
Justice Prabhudessai noted that Delhi HC, analysing the rules, had said, "Mixing of contents of container or package (in one lot) and then drawing representative samples is not permissible under Standing Orders and rightly so since such a sample would cease to be a representative sample of the corresponding container or package".
Khan said actual flowering or fruiting tops were not separately weighed, thus raising a doubt if the 'ganja' seized was of commercial quantity.
HC said that prosecution case "does not prima facie indicate the leaves, seeds and stalks were accompanied by flowering or fruiting tops of the Cannabis plant." It granted him bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 with monthly reporting to police till charges are framed in trial court.