2004 Heroin Seizure: High court quashes proceedings against accused

Citing various Supreme Court judgments regards evidence offered by a co-accused, Justice Anand Venkatesh said, “The court should not start with the confession of a co-accused and it must begin with the other evidence available on record. The court must then form its opinion about the quality and effect of the said evidence. Thereafter, the court can turn to the confession, in order to receive assurances to the conclusion of guilt.”

Also noting that one important requirement in using the confession of a co-accused is that there should be a joint trial of the accused, the judge said, “In the present case, admittedly the trial of A-4, who offered the confession against the petitioner, is already over along with three other accused persons. They have been convicted by the trial court, confirmed by the high court and the case is now pending before the Supreme Court. Therefore, on the face of it the requirements of Section 30 of the Evidence Act, is not satisfied in this case as the accused persons have not been tried jointly.”

“No useful purpose will be served by keeping the proceedings against the petitioner pending in the absence of any other material, except the confession of the co-accused,” he added.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh was passing orders on a plea moved by one Guddu Singh alias Vikram Singh, seeking to quash the proceedings against him in a case on the file of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) and Essential Commodities (EC) Act court at Chennai as he was implicated only based on the confession given by an accused in the case.

As per the prosecution, based on a secret information, officers part of NCB South Zone intercepted a car on April 21, 2004 and seized 5.250 Kg of heroin and arrested four persons.