Rats consumed 10 Kg of marijuana and 9 kg of bhang which was confiscated by Dhandad police in Jharkhand as evidence. This incident came to the limelight when the court asked the investigation officer to produce evidence of seized material.

According to the sources, in 2018, December, the Dhanbad police arrested accused Shambhu Agarwal and his son on the charges of possession of prohibited narcotics and drugs, and they kept the seized material in a warehouse.

Recently, during the trial of that case, the court’s Principal and Session Judge Ram Sharma, instructed investigation officer Jaiprakash Prasad to produce the confiscated material. However, despite the court’s orders, the police failed to produce the seized drugs as evidence in the court. When the court rebuked, the Dhanbad police submitted that the confiscated material was consumed by rats.

The investigation officer Jaiprakash Prasad filed a report on April 6 and said in the court that the rats consumed the seized material, which the police had stored in the warehouse as evidence. The public Prosecutor Avdhesh Kumar referring to the application that was submitted by investigation officer Jaiprakash Prasad, described to the court that the seized material that was stored in the police station warehouse had been completely consumed by rats. For this reason, the investigation officer was not able to produce the evidence before the court.

In the meantime, Abhay Bhatt, the defense lawyer of Shambhu and his son, questioned why the police were unable to produce the evidence despite the court’s orders. The defense lawyer also contended that his clients had been falsely fabricated. A complaint had been filed at the Rajganj police station and the Superintendent of Dhanbad police ordered an inquiry into the issue.

(Input from various sources) 

(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)