Framed in synthetic drugs case, Kerala woman led 2-year fight for justice. Then truth hit too close to home

Slapped with the stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Sheela spent 72 days in jail before the High Court granted her bail. The case against her collapsed when chemical tests of the seized stamps tested negative for LSD.

On Sunday, police arrested Liviya Jose, 23, the sister of Sheela’s daughter-in-law, Liji. Last month, police had arrested Liviya’s friend, M N Narayana Das, 55, who had allegedly given wrong information to the Excise Department about the fake LSD stamps found in Sheela’s scooter.

Police said the probe now involves Sheela’s son, Sangeeth, and his wife, Liji. Sangeeth has allegedly gone into hiding after recently being thrice served notice by the police, officers said.

Tables turn

After lab results of the seized stamps showed they did not contain any synthetic drugs in 2023, the Excise Department registered a case against Narayana Das and Liviya under the NDPS Act. Early this year, when Das moved an anticipatory bail plea in the High Court, the judge directed the police to take over the probe. After the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, Das was arrested in April.

Kodungallour DySP V K Raju, who is heading the probe, said: “The entire picture behind the conspiracy will be out only after we question Sheela’s son, Sangeeth. So far, he is not listed as an accused, but we had served him notices three times. We have intensified our investigation into him.”

According to police, Liviya had used Sheela’s scooter on February 26, 2023, and allegedly concealed the stamps in the scooter before asking Das to inform the Excise Department. The next day, Sheela was arrested with what was then believed to be LSD stamps.

Contested motive

Police said Liviya told them the motive for her attempt to implicate Sheela in the drugs case was that Sheela allegedly had sent a voice message to her son that could damage Liviya’s reputation.

The DySP said Das had half a dozen criminal cases, including those related to extortion, honey trapping and theft, against him. “He had met Liviya in Bengaluru and they were in a live-in relationship. In the drug case, Das acted as per Liviya’s instructions. She had collected the LSD stamps from Bengaluru. She collected them on the assumption that they were genuine. At the same time, we have no information suggesting her links with any drug racket. We need to bring in more clarity regarding how she got the stamps. For this, we will seek their custody,” the officer said.

Amid the probe, Liviya had moved to Dubai, where she worked in the hotel management sector. Last Saturday, Kerala Police got a tip-off that she had landed in Mumbai, which led to her arrest.

Sheela, however, is not willing to buy Liviya’s theory regarding the motive behind the crime. “I strongly suspect my daughter-in-law. Liviya might have given a wrong statement to the police to save her sister from the case. I had not spoken to my son against Liviya’s character. When Liviya came home with costly items for us, I had raised doubts about her source of income. She was frequently flying between Kochi and Bengaluru with no source of income.”

She claimed that her daughter-in-law wanted to avoid her and may have considered her an “obstacle”. “Hence, they conspired to put me behind bars,” Sheela alleged.

After her release on bail, Sheela said her son moved out of their house. “I don’t know where he is now. If he is involved in the conspiracy, he should be punished,” she said.

After the 2023 arrest in the fake drug case, many parts of Sheela’s life derailed. Relatives and friends abandoned her, and she had to shut down the beauty parlour and vacate the rented premises on which she used to run it. Her husband, Sunny, who was working in a hotel, later became bedridden. Sheela had taken up a job at a daycare centre in Chennai, but had to give it up to look after her husband.