The Supreme Court on Thursday said courts hearing narcotic cases are told that rats ate away drugs seized in such cases, PTI reported.
“In NDPS [Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act] cases, three to four years later when the cases come up in court, nothing [seized drugs] is left in the malkhana and the police say that ‘choohe khaa gaye [rats ate it],” the bench said. Malkhanas are rooms in police stations where materials seized during investigation are stored.
The bench also said that in narcotics cases, “more drugs are smuggled from inside the malkhana, than outside”.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta made these remarks while asking the Delhi Police to frame a policy on removing or disposing seized or impounded materials and vehicles lying at police stations.
The Supreme Court also asked why impounded or seized vehicles, which continue to lie at police stations, are not sold in cases where it is not claimed. The Delhi Police said the policy will be framed in four weeks.
The police also told the bench that there was only one district ‘nazir’, or record keeper of a malkhana, in Delhi, and considering the volume of work, several more record keepers need to be appointed. The counsel for the Delhi government told the Supreme Court bench that he would take instructions and report back to the court on this matter.
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