Mumbai: The special NDPS court, while discharging alleged drug kingpin Ali Asgar Shirazi, has held that mere telephonic conversation with other accused cannot itself be an incriminating circumstance to hold the accused liable in an offence. The court has said that there is no material to connect him with the crime.
The special NDPS court on Friday discharged drug lord Kailash Rajput’s close aide Shirazi, who was booked in May 2023 in connection with the case probed by the Anti-Extortion Cell for smuggling narcotic substances and banned medicines to Australia and the United Kingdom using a courier service.
In its detailed order, the special judge CS Datir has said, “Prima-facie, there is no material to connect the applicant with the alleged recovery of contraband.”
“There is no other material to connect the applicant with the crime. Disclosure statements of co-accused during custody cannot be used even to frame the charge,” the court said while discharging Shirazi.
Besides, the court further noted that, “There is no WhatsApp details or any transcript of telephonic conversation to establish that the accused had contact with the co-accused as a conspiracy. Mere prior to the incident, there are phone calls between the applicant and co-accused, that would not be the sole ground to keep charge against him.”
While rejecting the prosecution’s evidence of call data records to establish the connection between the accused, the court said, “There should be conversation to that effect and that too be placed on record, but, in this case, no conversation or WhatsApp evidence on record. Mere he is having a courier company, that would not be the ground to establish the connection.”
Shirazi was arrested in May 2023 from the airport while he was allegedly trying to escape to Dubai. He has been in prison since his arrest. The case was registered in March 2023 by the Anti-Extortion Cell after it recovered 15kg of ketamine and a huge quantity of Viagra tablets from the office of a courier company in Andheri (East). The consignment was valued at Rs8 crore at that time.
It is claimed that Shirazi, along with one Vijay Rane, used his courier companies for shipping prohibited drugs and opioid medicines to London from Mumbai, which were received by Kailash Rajput in London and were sold to customers in London and the USA.
