Mumbai: Kenyan woman found with cocaine acquitted as witness does not recognise her with 'artificial hair'

A Kenyan woman who had been caught with 2.7 kilograms of Cocaine on her was acquitted five years later as a witness could not recognise her in court due to "artificial hair".

Five years after a Kenyan woman was allegedly found with 2.7 kilograms of Cocaine on her, a Mumbai court acquitted her as an important witness could not recognise her in court due to "artificial hair".

The prosecution's case was that on June 27, 2017, at around 2.30pm, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials received specific information that the next morning, a Kenyan woman is suspected to carry contraband in her handbag and would be travelling from a flight abroad.

Intelligence Officer Lav Kumar Singh passed this information to seniors and a team was formed which laid a trap at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Terminus of Mumbai Airport. The team started verifying the passport of the passengers after profiling. Thereafter, the suspect was identified and she was intercepted near the customs clearance area. From the woman, the sleuths recovered 2.7 Kgs of cocaine in 162 pellets.

Advocate Dilip Mishra appearing for the accused woman argued before the court that the independent panch witness had looked at everyone in the court room while deposing and had failed to identify the accused. "Therefore, seizure panchanama has not been proved by the prosecution to connect the accused with the alleged recovery of contraband. Therefore, the alleged seizure of contraband from the possession of accused cannot be said to have been duly proved by the prosecution."

However, The special public prosecutor Leena Shinde filed an application thereby stating that on the earlier occasion the accused when produced from the jail was wearing an artificial hair and which she was not wearing on the day of panchanama, so the independent panch witness had failed to identify her.

The special judge Dr AA Joglekar noted that the panch witness had not stated this himself. "Although it has to be accepted as it is, witness has not stated this by any application or thereafter has stated it before the court. Hence, the said explanation although presumptive cannot be considered as the same is not the version of the witness."

Apart from this, there were many other discrepancies in the case and procedural lapses which irked the court. The judge also pointed to the fact that the entire airport is covered with CCTV cameras, and the investigating officer had not even collected a single footage of the Kenyan woman from that day.