No Drugs, Just Baking Soda: Mumbai Court Discharges Man In Narcotics Case After 6 Years

The special public prosecutor had said that while the report said the sample was sodium carbonate, that cannot be a ground for discharging the accused from the case.

In a recent order, a special court discharged a man from a drugs case after a forensic report showed that the seized ‘drug’ was actually baking soda.

Mayuresh Parkar was arrested in 2016 on allegations that he was found in the possession of 100 grams of mephedrone (MD).

He was released on bail in 2017. He recently filed a discharge application before the special court based on the report of the chemical analyzer.  The report dated March 27, 2017, analyzed a sample of the ‘drug’ recovered and submitted by investigators of the Dadar police station. Citing the report, Parkar said the sample was that of sodium carbonate and not a narcotic drug or a psychotropic substance, reported Indian Express.

The special public prosecutor had said that while the report said the sample was sodium carbonate, that cannot be a ground for discharging the accused from the case.

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He also said that the report was not conclusive. Parkar was booked for offenses under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act which prohibits possession of drugs,reported Indian express.

“The CA report produced by the prosecution dtd. 27.03.2017 reveals that “exhibit do not contain Mephedrone, however, Na(Sodium) and CO3 (Carbonate) radicals are detected in Exhibit. It does not show that the sample forwarded to FSL contained any narcotic drugs or psychotropic substance. There is no sufficient ground to proceed against the applicant/accused, hence this application deserves to be allowed,” special Judge V G Raghuvanshi said in his order.