BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed criminal proceedings against Virendra Khanna, one of the accused in a drugs scandal involving celebrities, due to procedural lapses in prosecuting him.
The court clarified that the order doesn't stop Khanna's prosecution in accordance with the law. Khanna moved court with the plea that proceedings against him pending before the trial court be quashed which the court allowed.
"It is to be noted here that what is made out by the counsel for the petitioner is a sheer procedural lapse. This can be set right. If really the petitioner’s involvement is there in commission of offences punishable under the NDPS Act, he must be tried in accordance with law and punished in case the prosecution is able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt," Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar of the Karnataka HC said.
The court said that permission is to be accorded to the prosecuting agency to set right all the procedural mistakes and take action against the petitioner.
The court said that police should have registered separate FIRs for past offences and filed separate charge sheets. Probably, the police might be under the impression that the same FIR would suffice even for those offences in 2015, 2018 and 2019.
The charge sheet also shows that the last date of involvement of the petitioner was on March 8, 2020 in a party arranged at city’s hotel but does not disclose his involvement in any offence committed after that date. Therefore, it is not understandable as to how the petitioner could have been arraigned as accused in one of the FIRs, the court said.