Madhya Pradesh: HC refuses bail to Amazon's delivery boy held in ‘marijuana case’

BHOPAL: Even as Madhya Pradesh special task force (STF) has constituted a special team to probe alleged smuggling of marijuana through the e-commerce network Amazon, the high court bench at Gwalior has denied bail to the delivery boy arrested in the case.
Bail application was moved by Jeeru Kumar Swami Rao Shri Naaga Raju of Tamil Nadu. He was arrested by the Bhind police on December 6,2021 in connection with Crime No 288/2021 registered at Police Station Gohad Chauraha, District Bhind for offence under Section 8/20 (B), 29 and 38 of the NDPS, Act.
According to his counsel the applicant is a delivery boy and he was not aware of the contents of the boxes.Prosecution claimed, Ganja was being delivered on Amazon online platform by projecting it to be a stevia.
Prosecution opposed the bail claiming that not only the applicant is the resident of Tamil Nadu, but a racket was functioning for safe delivery of Ganja by using the electronic platform.
After hearing the arguments, Justice G S Ahluwalia ruled, “Considering the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court is of the considered opinion that no case is made out for grant of bail”.
Bhind Police had registered a case against the executive directors of Amazon India in the matter. They have been booked under NDPS Act. According to an official release, police had found contradictions in the reply filed by Amazon and evidence they have collected.
IPS officer Manoj Singh who had led this operation as SP Bhind – has now been transferred to STF where he would be heading the special team looking into this matter.
Police claim a whopping 1 tonne marijuana, worth over Rs 1 crore, has been transported this way under the guise of ‘curry leaf’ or ‘stevia leaf’ shipments. Amazon India had been denying the allegations of non-cooperation in an official correspondence with TOI.
“Amazon extends full-cooperation to law enforcement agencies, and even in the present marijuana case, we have remained committed to the investigation. Amazon.in officials have held several rounds of discussions with MP Police since the issue was first notified to us. We are in the process of gathering relevant information, as requested by the local investigating authorities, and are well on course to submitting them within the stipulated deadline.” Amazon India spokesperson had said.
Amazon had in a previous statement said it doesn’t allow listing and sale of products banned in India and is investigating if there was ‘non-compliance’ by a seller.
Two suspects — Suraj alias Kallu Pawaiyya and Bijendra Singh — were arrested near a dhaba on Bhind-Gwalior highway on Saturday, and 20kg marijuana that they were allegedly transporting via the e-commerce network was seized. Singh runs the dhaba. Kallu used to smuggle marijuana, tagged as ‘curry leaves’, from Andhra Pradesh and deliver it via e-commerce in Bhopal, Gwalior, Kota and Agra, say police. The marijuana was allegedly smuggled through a ‘seller company’ registered in Visakhapatnam.
The cyber cell had been keeping a watch on Kallu and a team was set up under SP Manoj Kumar Singh and ASP Kamlesh Kumar, which moved in for the arrest on Saturday night.