CHENNAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has moved the Madras High Court challenging a recent acquittal of three persons by a Chennai trial court in a 2004 case of export of anti-anxiety drugs to the US.
In its appeal, a copy of which is with TNIE, the central agency contended that the court had failed to note that the accused were prosecuted not for possession of psychotropic substances, but for illegal export without proper valid medical prescription. NCB also pointed out that a bogus and fabricated prescription issued by Dr Allen of US had been seized from one of the accused.
The September 12 order by the NDPS special court had said the drugs seized by NCB in the case were the ones available in the open market and that the company run by the accused had a licence to sell, stock and distribute it. They were also proper dealers registered with government bodies and had an import-export certificate from the commerce ministry, the court said, declaring that they were not drug peddlers. Those acquitted were D Yuvaraj, M Chandramouli, KS Rajesh Kumar, their company Vulcan Direct in Triplicane and their Mumbai partners Roshan and Nikhil Kapadia.
The NCB, in its appeal, said the Supreme Court, while hearing the bail petitions of the accused in 2006, had found that the seized medicines fall under the scope of NDPS Act. The accused had conspired to export psychotropic substances out of India and had earned `1.82 crore as seen in Vulcan Direct’s bank account, which was later frozen.
NCB also opposed the trial court’s remarks that the drugs in question had the ‘Rx’ tag - which indicated that it could be legally purchased - while it did not have the ‘NRx’ tag which indicated controlled drugs. The agency said this was immaterial as lab reports had confirmed that the drugs contained psychotropic substances. NCB also said the absence of an NOC from the Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior, for export was an admitted fact and an offense under rule 53, 53A and 58 of the NDPS Act, which the court had failed to note.