Blotter paper should be included while weighing drugs: Karnataka HC
BENGALURU: Observing that the weight of the blotter paper, which is said to be a neutral substance, is also required to be taken into consideration to weigh the quantity of an offending drug, the Karnataka High Court rejected the contention of an accused that the LSD seized from him is of small quantity and not commercial quantity.
Justice Vishwajith Shetty passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by accused Kalam Chandra, a resident of Dooravaninagar in the city, challenging the crime registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of Bengaluru.
Senior counsel for the petitioner contended that the seized article was secured by the petitioner for his own consumption, and the offence attracts only Section 27 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, but the offence under Section 8(c) read with other provisions were invoked against him. The 10 LSD strips seized would amount to a small quantity because each strip contains blotting paper of 30 to 50 micro grams, he argued.
The court said blotter paper is a carrier material for psychotropic substance LSD. These blotter papers are ingested with LSD, and form an integral part of ingestion by the user. It is also a medium of consumption of the drug. In the background of Hira Singh’s case decided by the Supreme Court, the weight of the blotter paper is also required to be taken into consideration to weigh the quantity of the offending drug.
Accordingly, the LSD strips seized from the accused weigh 0.11 gm, which is a commercial quantity. Therefore, the counsel’s argument is liable to be rejected, and investigation is necessary, the court said.
Registering a case under Section 42 of the NDPS Act, 1985, on receiving credible information, NCB officers collected the suspected parcel from the Postmaster of Chamarajpet on January 2, 2024, and opened it. They found 10 strips of LSD weighing 0.11 gram and 34.38 gram of ganja gummies in the parcel addressed to one Pandu, who turned out to be Kalam Narendra, the petitioner.
NCB officers arranged for a dummy parcel to be delivered through a postman to Pandu. He opened the door and acknowledged that he was Pandu, and collected the dummy drug parcel. NCB officers immediately went inside his flat, seized the dummy parcel and took Pandu into custody.