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a courthouse in the east India The main defendant in a drug trafficking case was acquitted after officials claimed rats ate nearly 200 kilograms of seized drugs and criticized police for serious failings in handling the evidence. marijuana Worth around 10 million rupees (£82,000).
The case dates back to 2022, when state police jharkhand Said they stopped a car on a state highway and discovered a large amount of marijuana hidden inside the vehicle.
However, during the trial, officials told the court that drug They could not be produced as evidence because they were allegedly destroyed by rodents during storage.
The judge said this explanation “cast doubts on the police’s seizure and handling of the case”.
The court found numerous inconsistencies in the testimonies of police witnesses over basic details, such as the exact location and time of the interception, who arrested the suspect and how other alleged accomplices escaped, local media reported.
“There are some contradictions in their statements… which cast doubt on whether the alleged defendants were captured at the location stated by the prosecution or elsewhere,” the court noted.
The court also said that no independent civilian witnesses were called despite the alleged seizure taking place on a busy highway surrounded by residential areas.
Prosecutors have also been unable to prove any connection between the defendants and the vehicle where the drugs were allegedly found.
“No other documents regarding the vehicle were submitted to the court that would establish any relationship between the vehicle and the defendant,” the judgment said.
The court ruled that the charges had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt and ordered the defendants to be released. The court ruled that “since no physical evidence was left behind and the chain of custody was completely broken, the defendant must bear the burden of innocence” and acquitted the main defendant.
Similar claims were made in July in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, where officials said rats had damaged liquor stored in a government warehouse.