Fardeen Khan drugs case accused seeks discharge

“The traces of cocaine detected are not enough to try the accused under drugs laws,” said lawyer Shekhar Bhandary who is representing Gomes.

Gomes had,last year,filed an application before the special court seeking a forensic report to find exactly how much of the nine gm of contraband seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) from Khan was actually cocaine.

“The report indicated that the actual percentage of cocaine in the seized substance is not enough to prove the charges against the accused. The report stated that Benzoylecgonine (a degradation product of cocaine) and traces of cocaine are detected in the sample. The report doesn’t mention any percentage of cocaine,which means that not even 0.1 per cent of cocaine — the bare minimum required as per the Act — was detected in the test,” Bhandari said.

The plea also states that since the forensic report is in favour of Gomes,the onus is on the prosecution to prove the charges levelled against the accused. It also states that nothing has been recovered from Gomes and he has been arrested only on basis of the statement of a co-accused.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had arrested Khan outside a Juhu ATM on May 5,2001,on charges of possessing cocaine. Nasir Shaikh who allegedly sold him the drug and Tony Gomes who allegedly supplied it to Shaikh were also arrested. While Khan claimed he had attempted to buy only one gm of cocaine from Shaikh,the NCB alleged that nine gm of cocaine were found on Khan and Shaikh.

According to the NDPS Act,less than two gm is considered a small quantity under drugs laws; and the accused can,at the maximum,face a six-month jail term for possession of small quantity of drugs. The prosecution is likely to file its reply on April 13.