Man caught with big quantity of drugs denied bail

The high court has denied bail to Rijesh Raveendran, one of the suspects in a drugs case being investigated by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Raveendran is accused number 3 in the case, in which Bineesh Kodiyeri, the son of Kerala's former home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, has also been named.

Dismissing the bail petition, Justice B A Patil noted that the quantity of contraband seized is not in dispute. "It is not in dispute that 40 grams of MDMA and 180 blots of LSD have been seized from the possession of the petitioner-Accused Number 3 and the seized article is a commercial quantity,” he stated.

The NCB searched Raveendran's house on August 21, 2020, and arrested him he was found to be in possession of the contraband. He claimed he was falsely implicated in the case and illegally detained for three days until August 24. He claimed the seized drug was for personal consumption.

The court, however, observed that the seized contraband was of commercial quantity. "When once the quantity of contraband article is considered to be a commercial quantity, then under such circumstances, the provisions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act will be made applicable,” the court said.

The court also said that since the commercial quantity of contraband has been seized, the petitioner has to come with a proper explanation. He's, however, free to file a fresh bail petition once the charge sheet is filed, the court said.