Drugs case: Special court grants bail to Sameer Khan, son-in-law of Maha minister Nawab Malik

A special court in Mumbai on Monday granted bail to Sameer Khan, son-in-law of NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, and two others in a drugs case.

Khan was arrested on January 13 this year by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for alleged possession of drugs. Khan has been granted bail on a surety of Rs 50,000, his advocate Taraq Sayyed said.

A special NDPS (Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) court also granted bail to celebrity manager Rahila Furniturewala and UK national Karan Sejnani on sureties of Rs 50,000 each.

The NCB, which claimed the accused had conspired to procure, sell, purchase and transport 194.6 kilograms of ganja, had charged Khan and five others for dealing with commercial quantities of the drug, a crime that carries a maximum punishment of 20 years.

Khan, in his bail plea filed in July after the NCB submitted its charge sheet, relied on reports of the forensic lab, which said 11 of the 18 samples sent to it could not be detected as cannabis.

The bail plea said, based on the forensic report, the only charge sustained in the complaint is for dealing with a small quantity of ganja, for which the maximum punishment is one year.

The NCB had claimed a majority of the drugs were seized from Sejnani, who it said was involved in business transactions with Khan.

In the bail plea, Khan, however, said, as per evidence collected by NCB, Sejnani had sought financial help from him for a legitimate business concerning tobacco, and there was nothing to show he had dealt with any transaction towards a conspiracy under the NDPS Act.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)