Chandaria’s police custody has been extended till December 21 (File)
Alleged drug peddler, Bakul Chandaria, who was arrested last week by the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC), has told the police that he had allegedly bought the drugs for “self-consumption”, a special court was informed on Saturday. Chandaria’s police custody has been extended till December 21.
The Azad Maidan Unit of the ANC has claimed to have seized 106 grams of cocaine and 80 LSD dots from Chandaria’s residence in Khar on December 9. The next day, Chandaria was produced in a court and remanded in police custody till December 16. On Saturday, he was produced in the special court, designated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The ANC officials told the court that Chandaria has not been co-operating in the investigation and had not revealed who he was supplying the drugs to. The ANC officials submitted to the court that they are in the process of accessing his Call Data Records to determine if he was in touch with anyone for the purpose of selling drugs. They also claimed that while Chandaria had said during his interrogation that the drugs were allegedly supplied to him by a Nigerian national who lived in Borivali, the latter is yet to be traced.
In their plea seeking an extension of the police remand, the ANC claimed that for further investigation in the case, including to find out whether Chandaria was connected with any international gang, an extension was required. Special Judge G A Sanap granted the ANC custody of Chandaria till December 21. The ANC had claimed that based on a tip-off they had received about Chandaria supplying drugs, including cocaine, LSD and Ecstasy, the 44-year old’s home in Khar was raided on December 9 and that led to the seizure of commercial quantity of drugs worth around Rs 12.48 lakh. Chandaria has been booked under relevant sections of the NDPS Act.
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