Supreme Court shifts Mundra port drug haul case from Hoshiarpur to Gujarat

PTI

New Delhi, April 3

The Supreme Court on Wednesday transferred a heroin-smuggling case allegedly linked to the sensational Mundra port drug haul from a court in Hoshiarpur to a special NIA court at Ahmedabad.

In September 2021, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials had found 2,988 kg heroin in a talc powder consignment at Mundra port. The consignment was imported from Afghanistan.

The DRI has filed a case in Gujarat while the second case is pending before a special court at Saket in the National Capital. The third case is pending before the court of the Additional Sessions Judge in Hoshiarpur.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had transferred the probe into the drugs haul to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on December 27, 2021. The NIA wanted the Punjab case to be transferred to Ahmedabad for an effective trial.

In the case registered by the Punjab Police, nine persons had been named as accused and a trial was to be initiated in a special court in Hoshiarpur under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The NIA has listed all accused arrested in Punjab and Delhi in its charge-sheet filed in the Ahmedabad court.

A Bench of Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Rajesh Bindal allowed the NIA’s petition, taking note of Additional Solicitor General SV Raju’s submissions that the probe agency was seized of the investigation in the cases which were inter-linked.

The Bench rejected the contentions of the accused that the trial in one of the cases should not be transferred to Gujarat. —TNS

(With Inputs)

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