No bail on technical grounds in major drug cases: Karnataka high court

Bengaluru: Karnataka high court has rejected the bail plea of Cristian Soporuchukwu, a Nigerian arrested in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case, observing that for an accused allegedly caught with a commercial quantity of narcotic drugs, negation of bail is the rule and grant the exception.

Cristian was arrested on April 6, 2025, with 1kg of MDMA crystals. He allegedly claimed that he came to India on a business visa for cloth business and thereafter moved to Goa, Delhi, and Mumbai. During this period, he got acquainted with drug peddlers of South African origin and used to purchase MDMA crystals at cheaper rates before selling them to college students and IT/BT employees for Rs 15,000-20,000 per gram. Charged under various provisions of the NDPS Act, Cristian moved the high court for bail after the trial court rejected his petition.

Cristian argued that no proper grounds of arrest were issued to him by Begur police. However, after perusing the materials on record, Justice V Srishananda pointed out that, per se, the petitioner is an illegal immigrant who overstayed and was found with 1kg of MDMA. The head of the raid party, who caught him and seized the illegal drugs, also seized a mini-electronic weighing machine, mobile handset, and two-wheeler. Later, he handed over custody of the petitioner and the seized material to the station house officer, who made the arrest. In other words, the actual arrest took place in the police station and was not arranged by the head of the raid party. While taking the accused into custody, no other formalities were to be carried out by the raid party head, Justice Srishananda noted.

The court observed that procuring 1kg of MDMA is not easy, making it unlikely that police planted the drugs to falsely implicate the accused. It also noted that the bail plea failed to show any prior enmity between the accused and the raid team head.

Rejecting the bail petition, the court further observed that while failure to properly inform an accused of the grounds of arrest can justify bail in some cases, such technical lapses cannot be used to secure bail in serious NDPS cases involving commercial quantities of drugs, especially when the accused fails to satisfy the strict conditions for bail under the Act.