Frame charges against 4 in 2020 drugs case: Court

Panaji: A narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (NDPS) court has directed police to frame charges against four people— Kapil Jhaveri, Ana Lilia Nucamendi Gonzalez, Eva Abraham Ova and Tony Fernandes— in connection with a narcotic raid in Aug 2020 at a villa at Anjuna.

During the raid conducted on Aug 16, 2020 between 12.15 am and 4am at the villa, the accused were allegedly found with 45.2g of charas, 7g ecstasy, 3.2g MDMA and 3g of cocaine.

The advocate for the accused argued that the mandate of law is that a woman accused cannot be arrested after sunset and before sunrise without prior permission of JMFC. But the police said they did not have sufficient time to obtain a search warrant and that the complainant and investigating officer were not aware prior to the raid that female accused would be present at the villa.

They said the crime branch received information that a party was going on at the villa and that drugs were being supplied at the party.

The court held that these contentions of non-compliance of mandatory provisions of the NDPS Act cannot be dealt with at this stage and have to be decided on merits after the conclusion of trial. Sessions judge Vijaya Ambre directed that charges be framed against the accused under the NDPS Act.

The seized contraband was sent to CFSL Pune and Hyderabad and the report came back positive for charas, ecstasy and MDMA, and the report regarding cocaine came back negative.