Blotter paper should be included while measuring weight of LSD, rules Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has held that the weight of blotter paper is an integral part of contraband seizure done by any agency and the paper ought to be included while weighing Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) for prosecution under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The order was passed by Justice Revati Mohite Dere. Justice Mohite Dere had heard the case and reserved the arguments in September.

Read: SSR drug probe: Bombay HC to decide whether paper weight should be included in weighing LSD

"I have held that having regard to the findings in Hira Singh's judgment passed by the Supreme Court and the objective of the NDPS Act, blotter paper forms an integral part of LSD and the blotter paper will have to be considered for taking weight of the LSD. The impugned order is quashed and set aside," Justice Dere pronounced.

The court was hearing the appeal filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) referring to an order of the Special NDPS Court, Mumbai.

The lower court was hearing an application filed by an alleged drug peddler, Anuj Keshwani, accused in the drug case related to the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The lower court in its order had held that the blotter paper cannot be included while measuring the drugs.

The court also clarified that the order passed by the single-judge bench of the High Court is not binding in light of the contrary Supreme Court judgments and thus, the reliance placed by the NDPS Court on these judgments cannot be accepted.

The Court also directed NCB to, however, send the samples of LSD allegedly recovered from Keshwani to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat to find out if every blotter paper has LSD and submit the report to the NDPS Court within six weeks.

The lower court had directed NCB to send the sample in Keshwani's case to the FSL in Gandhinagar in Gujarat to ascertain if the weight of purported LSD drugs was measured without the blotter paper or whether the weight of the sample included the weight of the paper.

As per the FSL report mentioned in the chargesheet, the weight of the LSD sample was 0.62 gram. The commercial quantity for LSD as per the NDPS Act is 0.1 gram. The FSL report was silent about whether the weight of the LSD drops included the weight of the blot paper along with the LSD drops.

In the appeal filed by NCB, they stated that the entire NDPS Act ought to have been considered by the Special Judge to consider the weight of the drug. The Act included the "street weight" of the drug in the form in which it was sold rather than the weight of the active component, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and Shreeram Shirsat, representing the NCB, had informed the court.

According to NCB, the most common form of LSD available on the streets is drops of LSD solution dried onto a piece of paper or gelatinous sheet and pieces of blotting papers. Hence, the form in which the drug was sold contained the paper as well. So the NCB stated that the weight of the paper also should be considered while determining the quantity of the LSD as a commercial or small quantity.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant and Gayatri Gokhale representing Keshwani, on the other hand, opposed the appeal, stating that courts have previously held that the weight of paper ought not be included as the carrier of the narcotic substance did not change the nature of the substance, and that it was merely a carrier. Merchant had also stated that considering this argument, the amount that had been recovered from him was a small quantity.