Panaji: The District and Sessions Court, North Goa, discharged Ajit Kambli of Anjuna in connection with the Crime Branch drugs case of December 2022 involving 505 grams of charas worth Rs 3 lakh, holding that the material on record was insufficient to frame charges against the accused.
Apurva R Nagvenkar, Additional Sessions Judge-2, Mapusa, said that the prosecution had placed on record the panchanama, statements of the raiding party and a sketch showing that the hut was situated behind the accused’s house at a distance of around two metres. Based on this material, the prosecution contended that the hut belonged to the accused.
“There is no statement of a neighbour stating that the hut was in possession of the accused and his family. The possession cannot be proved based on the statements of the raiding party and the sketch. Mere proximity of the hut to the house of the accused is not sufficient to arrive even at a prima-facie finding that hut was in the possession of the accused,” Nagvenkar said in an order passed earlier this month.
