The Supreme Court on Monday (October 27) held that when the owner of a vehicle establishes that it was used for transporting narcotic substances without his knowledge or connivance, he cannot be denied interim custody of the vehicle pending trial.

The Court clarified that the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Seizure, Storage, Sampling and Disposal) Rules, 2022 (“2022 Disposal Rules”) cannot divest the Special Court constituted under the NDPS Act to order interim release of the confiscated vehicle when the owner prima facie establishes that he is unconnected with the seized contraband.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard the appeal filed by a lorry owner whose vehicle was intercepted and thereafter confiscated by the police for allegedly carrying a NDPS su

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