Cop cleared of drug smuggling charge
Police missteps lead to acquittal of Ashok Dhavale, who was accused of smuggling heroin in a police car in February 2011.
A senior police officer accused of attempting to smuggle drugs into the city three years ago was acquitted on Tuesday after a court found that investigators had made a series of missteps in the case.
Ashok Dhavale, 53, who was a deputy police superintendent, was arrested in Worli on February 22, 2011, for allegedly trying to smuggle 1.5 kg of heroin from Gujarat in a police jeep.
Sixteen witnesses, including two independent ones, testified against Dhavale, who maintained that he had been falsely implicated in the case.
His lawyer, Ayaz Khan, told the court that the independent witnesses who were stated to be present at the time of the drug seizure were “regulars” - meaning they often played the role of witnesses to bolster police cases.
A senior Crime Branch officer had claimed that he was part of the raiding team. But his police station dairy showed that he was on leave at the time of the operation. The officer, who was among the 16 witnesses, rejoined duty on February 24, 2011, two days after the raid.
The investigators, the defence contended, had also failed to follow procedures listed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), starting from the time they received information about the alleged drug smuggling attempt to the arrest of Dhavale and drug peddler Amar Singh.
On Tuesday, these missteps led to Dhavale and Singh’s acquittal. The copy of the judgment, however, was not made available by the judge.
This was the second smuggling case against the 53-year-old officer. In March 2007, Dhavale and his three friends were arrested on charge of trying to smuggle Indian-made foreign liquor into the city from Daman using a police car. He was attached the Vikhroli police station at the time and was dismissed.
The case, however, later crumbled, and he was reinstated in 2008. When he was arrested in 2011, he was posted in the state police’s Protection of Civil Liberties and Rights Department.
The prosecution had claimed that Crime Branch and anti-narcotics officers had received information that Singh planned deliver to a huge quantity of drugs to Shastri Garden in Worli from Gujarat. A watch was then set up on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. A police jeep was intercepted and Dhavale and Singh were taken into custody.
A senior police officer accused of attempting to smuggle drugs into the city three years ago was acquitted on Tuesday after a court found that investigators had made a series of missteps in the case.
Ashok Dhavale, 53, who was a deputy police superintendent, was arrested in Worli on February 22, 2011, for allegedly trying to smuggle 1.5 kg of heroin from Gujarat in a police jeep.
A known drug peddler travelling with Dhavale was also arrested by a joint team of Crime Branch Unit IV and the Anti-Narcotics Cell.
Sixteen witnesses, including two independent ones, testified against Dhavale, who maintained that he had been falsely implicated in the case.
His lawyer, Ayaz Khan, told the court that the independent witnesses who were stated to be present at the time of the drug seizure were “regulars” - meaning they often played the role of witnesses to bolster police cases.
A senior Crime Branch officer had claimed that he was part of the raiding team. But his police station dairy showed that he was on leave at the time of the operation. The officer, who was among the 16 witnesses, rejoined duty on February 24, 2011, two days after the raid.
The investigators, the defence contended, had also failed to follow procedures listed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), starting from the time they received information about the alleged drug smuggling attempt to the arrest of Dhavale and drug peddler Amar Singh.
On Tuesday, these missteps led to Dhavale and Singh’s acquittal. The copy of the judgment, however, was not made available by the judge.
This was the second smuggling case against the 53-year-old officer. In March 2007, Dhavale and his three friends were arrested on charge of trying to smuggle Indian-made foreign liquor into the city from Daman using a police car. He was attached the Vikhroli police station at the time and was dismissed.
The case, however, later crumbled, and he was reinstated in 2008. When he was arrested in 2011, he was posted in the state police’s Protection of Civil Liberties and Rights Department.
The prosecution had claimed that Crime Branch and anti-narcotics officers had received information that Singh planned deliver to a huge quantity of drugs to Shastri Garden in Worli from Gujarat. A watch was then set up on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. A police jeep was intercepted and Dhavale and Singh were taken into custody.
