Businessman claims he was ‘wrongly’ jailed, moves HC

MUMBAI: A Delhi-based businessman, arrested and jailed for smuggling a banned drug has approached the Bombay High Court claiming to have been ‘wrongly’ remanded to judicial custody.

The forty-one-year-old man — Hitesh Garg, a resident of Pitampura, Delhi was arrested in May this year by the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). He was picked up from Palghar district after the DRI learnt that the banned drug ‘Tramadol’ was being transacted in and around Palghar and Mumbai districts. The law enforcing agency had even intercepted a truck loaded with the drug, banned in April 2018.

Soon the agency arrested Garg, who was found in possession of Tramadol. He was accordingly produced before a Sessions Judge in Thane and was remanded to judicial custody till June 11.

Terming the order of the court remanding him to custody as ‘illegal’, Garg has petitioned a division bench of Justice Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharati Dangre, through his counsel Dinesh Tiwari.

In his plea, Garg has said, “The drug, as alleged to have been recovered from my possession has been brought under the control of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Thus, in view of the provisions of the NDPS Act, it is mandatory to have all the matters conducted before a Judge, who has been specifically notified to hear matters under the provisions of the NDPS Act.”

“In the instant case, I have obtained information and found that the Judge who remanded me to judicial custody has not been notified under the NDPS Act. Therefore, the custody granted by the Judge by his orders dated May 29, 2018, has become illegal,” the plea reads.