A special court has rejected an application made by a 20-year-old accused in a drugs case seeking CCTV footage of his residential building claiming that contraband was planted by officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The court said that the accused will get an opportunity during the trial to place evidence before it.
Zaid Rana, who was arrested in April by the NCB, had through his lawyer Ashok Saraogi, sought CCTV footage of his building in the western suburbs of the city. He had sought for an independent officer to collect the footage of April 9, 2021, and submit it to the court to verify whether contraband was planted on him. In his bail plea filed in November, Rana had made similar allegations stating that the then Mumbai zonal director, Sameer Wankhede, had ‘created the case’ against him owing to a personal enmity. It was alleged that while Wankhede’s presence at the spot of the raid was not mentioned in any documents, he was present.
The NCB through special public prosecutor Advait Sethna had opposed the plea stating that it was made to malign the agency and its zonal director.
The court said that the accused has propelled a theory of planting of contraband and expects that the CCTV footage be collected by an independent officer.
“Collection of evidence is the prerogative of the prosecution and if the accused has his own theory, the burden would lie on the accused. Apart from the same, the accused will have an abundant opportunity to lay his defence and assail such evidence to substantiate his theory during the regular course of trial,” special judge Dr A A Joglekar said in the order passed recently.
Last month, the court had rejected Rana’s bail application, where he had made allegations of planting drugs against Wankhede.