A Nigerian national, who was accused of possessing over one kg heroin, has been convicted by a Delhi court which said non-joining of public witnesses is "not fatal" to the case of the prosecution.
Special NDPS Judge Anu Grover Baliga held Richard, a native of Nigeria, who was living in India without permit and was engaged in export of heroin, guilty under the provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Pyschotropic Substances (NDPS) Act as well as Foreigners' Act.
Another accused Chris, who was arrested with Richard, was declared an absconder as he failed to appear in thecourt after being granted bail.
"This court is of the considered opinion that non-joining of public witnesses in the present case is not fatal to the case of the prosecution and thus the argument of the defence counsel that since no independent witness was associated, the accused is liable to be acquitted is totally devoid of any merit," the judge said.
The court, which is likely to pronounce the sentence tomorrow, however, noted that the police did not produce the samples of seized contraband properly, hence it could not be conferred that the accused possessed 1.2 kg heroin.
"From the facts that have been proved before this court it can be safely inferred that the accused can be held guilty for having been found in possession of 60 gms of contraband," it said, while adding that each packet was not weighed and sample was taken out after mixing the contents of all the packets together.
According to the prosecution, Richard and Chris were apprehended by the Narcotics Cell's raiding team on September 24, 2011 near Gole Dak Khana here on a tip-off from an informer.
It had said that both the accused persons were found with a plastic bag containing 20 bicycle seats which had one packet each of the contraband.
It had further said that during investigation the accused could not produce any document for their stay in India and were also charged under the Foreigners' Act.
During the trial, Richard denied the allegations and claimed that he was going to India Gate for sightseeing when the autorickshaw he was travelling in broke down and he was suddenly caught by the police.
