The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by an alleged contraband supplier from Varanasi, who had sought to declare his arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) as illegal on the grounds that he was detained for over 48 hours before being produced before a magistrate.

Vikas Kumar Gupta, alias Vicky, a 43-year-old resident of Varanasi, was linked to a drug trafficking case after the NCB seized 7,200 bottles of codeine phosphate from one accused, and later recovered 10,800 Nitrazepam tablets and 120 bottles of codeine phosphate from another. Both accused allegedly named Gupta as their supplier.

The NCB claimed that the summons was issued to Gupta, which bears his signature of having received it in Varanasi in March, and he travelled on his own without any coercion.

In his plea, Gupta contended that NCB officials arrested him at his Varanasi residence on March 27, and later forced him to book his own flight ticket to Mumbai. He alleged that although his arrest was shown as March 28 at 2:30 pm, he was actually in custody from March 27 morning until being produced before the magistrate on March 29, amounting to illegal detention.

Advocates Anish Pareira and Taraq Sayed, representing Gupta, relied on screenshots of CCTV footage from Varanasi and alleged that he was taken from his residence to the shop and then arrested.

The NCB, however, denied the allegations, asserting that Gupta’s statement was recorded on March 28, after which a formal arrest memo was drawn up at 5:30 pm. The agency said Gupta was produced before the magistrate the next day, well within the constitutional mandate of 24 hours.

A bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Gautam A Ankhad held there was no evidence of coercion or illegal arrest and that Gupta’s detention was lawful. After the summons was served to him, the bench said, “The petitioner was aware of the purpose and import of the summons. There is no material on record to substantiate the allegation that he was arrested on March 27, 2025, at the shop.”

“The CCTV footage from the Varanasi shop does not disclose any element of force or any arrest being made as alleged by the petitioner. The petitioner had booked his flight tickets from Varanasi to Mumbai. It would have been a different matter, had NCB booked his tickets,” the bench added.

The bench went through the arrest memo, the grounds of arrest being conveyed before dismissing the plea. “We, therefore, hold that the arrest was carried out in accordance with due process and does not suffer from any illegality,” it said.

– Ends