Designer found with cocaine gets 3 yrs in jail

May 23, 2010, Sunday, Abhinav Garg, Sunday Times of India

CAUGHT IN S DELHI RESTAURANT

New Delhi: An interior designer,who was nabbed carrying cocaine at Olive Bar & Kitchen in the capital in 2005,has been convicted of the crime by a Delhi court.

Special judge,Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court,Sanjiv Jain,has sentenced one Dev Chopra to three years rigorous imprisonment after finding the evidence gathered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to be clinching.

The effect of consumption of cocaine on the society is disastrous,it eats away the life and vigour of a society.Illegal trade of such a nefarious drug would have an adverse impact on the lives of many people, the court observed.

The fact that Chopra had been earlier booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act and Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act strengthened the prosecutions allegation that the convict was also involved in prostitution apart from supplying drugs to affluent customers.

According to the prosecution,NCB officers had received a tip-off that on October 1,2005 Chopra was planning to deliver 20gm of cocaine to a customer at the Olive Bar in Mehrauli.

The raiding party reached the bar and nabbed Chopra red-handed with a packet of the banned drug.

A white polythene bag filled with cocaine was recovered from the spot,the prosecution told the court during arguments while seeking strict punishment for Chopra.

The court found that Chopra was unable to convincingly explain his presence at the scene of the offence even as lab tests confirmed the recovered substance to be cocaine.

Along with three-year-jail term,the court further slapped a fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict.

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