Drugs recovered from two persons separately when they are apprehended together, should be considered as separate seizures, the Bombay High Court said while granting bail to a man arrested for possession of ganja (cannabis) last year.
The accused Sagar Borkar had sought bail on the ground that the police had allegedly recovered only 10 kg of the contraband from him, which was of intermediate quantity.
The police, however, claimed that Borkar and the co-accused in the case were found with contraband weighing 22 kg, which is a commercial quantity.
It further claimed that since the duo was travelling together, the charge of conspiracy was also invoked in the case.
A single bench of Justice S G Dige, in its order dated September 15, refused to accept the police's contention.
The bench noted that the police had recovered 10.319 kg of ganja from Borkar and 11.24 kg from the co-accused.
"It is alleged that both the applicant and the co-accused were travelling together, and the contraband recovered from their possession was commercial quantity. In my view, though the applicant and co-accused were found together, they were carrying the contraband individually. The recovery of the contraband from the possession of the applicant (Borkar) and the co-accused should be considered separately," the court said.
As per the case details, Borkar and another person were arrested for possession of ganja. While Borkar was found with around 10 kg of the substance, the police recovered 11 kg from the co-accused in the case.
