India News | Gujarat: NIA Court Rejects Bail Plea of Woman Held in Mega Heroin Haul at Mundra Port

Ahmedabad, Dec 28 (PTI) A special NIA court on Tuesday rejected the regular bail plea of a woman arrested along with her husband by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for their alleged role in importing 2988.2 kilograms of heroin hidden as talc powder at Mundra port in Gujarat's Kutch district in September this year.

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The court of special judge Shubhada Baxi observed the prima facie involvement of applicant Vaishali Govindraju, co-proprietor of Chennai-based Aashi Trading Company, which was found to be involved in the import of heroin worth around Rs 21,000 crore, was "clearly established," and enlarging her at this stage would impede the process of investigation.

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Opposing her bail plea, Amit Nair, special public prosecutor for NIA, told the court the agency was also investigating another consignment that was similarly brought into India and transported to Alipur in Delhi in June this year.

The description of the importer, supplier, description of goods and country of origin were identical to that of the consignment seized in September, which further suggested a strong link between the two crimes, Nair said.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act invoked against the applicant and other accused suggests high possibility of narco-terrorism, he said.

The present offence involves an international drug cartel with players based in Afghanistan, Iran and India, and their modus operandi suggests a deep rooted conspiracy to exploit trade-friendly approach of India for furthering nefarious activities with an intent to destabilise the Indian economy, Nair told court.

The investigation is at the crucial stage of collection of vital evidence against the present applicant and other co-accused to unearth a larger conspiracy, Nair said.

The applicant was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and taken into the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating the case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The accused was arrested after a consignment of 2988.2 kg of heroin was seized by the DRI from Adani port at Mundra in Kutch district.

This consignment was allegedly sent from Afghanistan via Bandar-Abbas, Iran, concealed in talc powder imported in the name of Aashi Trading Company, registered in her name as proprietor.

Her lawyer AD Bhatt argued for her bail application saying she was kept away from the day-to-day affairs of the company which was set up by her husband, Machavaram Sudhakar, also an arrested accused in the case.

She was not involved or party to the transactions entered into by her husband, and there is no direct evidence of her involvement, her lawyer argued.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)