Cong claims NCB flouted NDPS rules in ship raid, seeks probe

Mumbai, Oct 7 (IANS) The Maharashtra Congress on Thursday accused the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai of allegedly flouting the NDPS Act rules while conducting the raid on a luxury ship on October 2, and demanded action against the agency officials.

Addressing the media, the Congress State Spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that as per the NCB's own handbook, any accused who has to be shifted or handed over to another officer after arrest, it can be only with the written and signed consent of a senior officer.

Besides, the rules say that the same officer who arrests any accused is responsible for his security and must produce before a court within 24 hours.

"In the NCB raids on October 2, the rules seem to have been blatantly violated. How did a private person who is a Bharatiya Janata Party activist hand over the accused The entire raid and busting the so-called rave party on the cruise ship are suspicious," Sawant said.

He charged the NCB officers of suppressing the truth by calling the BJP activists as 'independent witnesses', when the very same person has said he was merely an 'informer' of the agency.

If this is the case, Sawant demanded that the NCB Mumbai officers should show the arrest details and the documents whereby two of the high-profile accused were handled by the 2 private persons who are BJP activists, 'compromising the security of the accused', and they even clicked selfies with them (accused) that day.

"These and other issues are extremely serious matter. The NCB Director-General and Maha Vikas Aghadi government must order an immediate probe in the matter. As per the NDPS Act, any officer found guilty of violating the rule-book faces 10 years' jail plus fine of at least Rs 100,000," Sawant pointed out.