MANGALURU: Alleging shoddy, unscientific and legally baseless investigation in the recent drug consumption and peddling cases in which several medical doctors and medicos were arrested in Mangaluru, forensic expert Dr Mahabala Shetty and senior advocate Manoraj Rajeeva have requested the High Court to intervene and investigate the matter by a sitting High Court Judge or by the CBI. If not either, then at least keep a vigil over the investigations in the case is what they have requested.
“There is a serious doubt with regard to the materials available to prosecute the drug addicts as drug peddlers. Prima facie we feel there are not enough materials and the investigation is shoddy, unscientific and legally baseless,” Shetty and Rajeeva told a press conference here on Tuesday.
They alleged that the manner in which the police acted with regard to the case was not in compliance with the NDPS Act and also the law enforcement agency did not discharge its duties in true spirits.
“No ganja was found in possession of students and doctors, except the main accused. Under such circumstances, the police should have gone for confirmatory tests through CFSL, FSL or RFSL. But they arrested the medicos just on the basis of the result of screening test which is not reliable,” said Shetty who introduced the drug screening test in Karnataka.
Shetty said that according to the NDPS Act, the confirmatory test should be done within an hour of the screening test turning positive and only if the second test turns positive, then the accused can be prosecuted and sent to jail.
He alleged that the police seemed to have acted with vengeance in this case, especially with regard to students of one particular private college. Citing the directions of the Ministry of Social Justice issued in the year 2020, he said the addicts should be treated as victims and sent to a rehab centre and not as culprits.
Further, he sought to know why the police published the photographs of the medicos accused in the case while the same was not done with regard to others booked in similar cases. “It has caused trauma for the drug addicts as well as their parents, and their near and dear relatives,” he said.
Rajeev said the investigation in such cases should go upwards and not downwards. “Instead of getting to the root of the menace, the police arrested the students thereby putting their future at stake. The brand Mangaluru has got a severe beating with this episode,” he said.
He also questioned why the MP and MLAs of the district did not intervene in the issue when the brand image of Mangaluru as an educational hub is dented and which may cause serious economical repercussions.