Delhi HC grants bail to South African national, notes mixing up of drug sample

New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has granted bail to a South African national, arrested in a drug trafficking case in 2021, noting that the seized substance was mixed up before being sent for testing.

Justice Arun Monga granted bail to Quentin Deacon, noting that mixing of substances before sampling made it impossible to identify which sample, sent for testing, belonged to which pocket, or their individual weights.

"There is doubt on the proof of the tested samples, which were represented as a commercial quantity on the whole," the judge said in an order passed last month.

He noted that the Investigating Officer had himself admitted during cross-examination that the seized substance had been mixed before sampling.

The applicant was arrested on June 27, 2021.

"That the applicant has already undergone more than four years in custody and charge sheet was filed on December 23, 2021, and till date, only six witnesses have been examined out of a total of 14 witnesses. Therefore, the trial is likely to take substantial time," the judge said.

According to the prosecution, the Customs department had seized heroin found in possession of the petitioner on his arrival in India back in June 2021.

It claimed that a total material recovered from him weighed 10,500 grams - one packet weighing 10,000 grams approx, and a plastic container weighing around 480 grams. PTI UK VN VN