Two-and-a-half years after he was arrested, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Abdul Kadar Shaikh, an alleged drug supplier and an accused in the cruise ship drug case. Twenty people were arrested by the NCB in October-November 2021 in the cruise case, including Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan. Shaikh and a co-accused remained in custody while 18 others including Aryan were granted bail.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is claimed to have seized a commercial quantity of drugs, including 2.5-gram ecstasy and 54.3-gram mephedrone, from Abdul Kadar Shaikh. The central agency through advocate Shreeram Shirsat had also alleged that Shaikh procured contraband from a co-accused and provided it to another accused.
However, advocate Kushal Mor for Shaikh argued that the applicant had been falsely implicated in the case and the same was evident from the material on record produced by prosecution and procedures under NDPS Act for search and seizure of contraband were not complied with.
A single-judge bench of Justice N J Jamadar, while granting bail to Shaikh, noted in the order, “As the identity of the sample is in the corridor of uncertainty, and the complicity of the applicant is primarily based on the seizure of the contraband from the applicant, a prima facie case to hold that eventually the applicant may not be found guilty of the offences can be said to have been made out.”
The bench noted that Shaikh was in custody for nearly two-and-a-half years since October 2021 and observed that it was “extremely unlikely that the trial can be concluded within a reasonable period.”
The bench referred to ‘settled law’ in past judgments that granted reliefs in case of ‘long period of incarceration without realistic prospect of expeditious conclusion of the trial’. It noted the same would affect the right to speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution. The bench directed the applicant be released on furnishing of personal bond of Rs. 1 lakh and sureties of the same amount and he should regularly attend trial court proceedings.