The Mapusa trial court has acquitted a Nigerian national in a 2014 cocaine possession case, citing major lapses in the investigation by Saligao police and holding that the prosecution failed to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
Additional Sessions Judge-2 Apurva Nagvenkar acquitted Okafor Michael, who was charged with allegedly possessing five grams of cocaine near the Sangolda football ground on December 22, 2014.
The court, in its order, found multiple inconsistencies in the prosecution's case, including doubts over the presence of independent panch witnesses, discrepancies in the weight of the seized substance, irregularities in the handling of the police seal and failure to maintain proper records of the operation.
A prosecution witness examined as a panch witness, denied participating in the raid and told the court his signature was taken on a handwritten document unrelated to any narcotics operation. “The PW4 has not corroborated the case of the prosecution by denying that he was taken for a raid and that his signature was obtained on a handwritten document. Therefore the PW4 was declared as hostile and was cross-examined by the prosecution... nothing could be elicited in his cross-examination to disprove his evidence and therefore the evidence of PW 4 has to be believed that the panch witnesses were not present for the raid,” the order stated.
The judge further questioned the use of a Calangute Police Station seal by a Saligao police officer during the raid, observing that the prosecution failed to produce any official record showing how the seal had been obtained or transferred.
The court also flagged discrepancies in the weight of the contraband. While the investigating officer claimed the seized cocaine weighed five grams along with the plastic packet, the forensic laboratory reported that the white powder alone weighed 5.203 grams.
The prosecution was further criticised for failing to produce the logbook of the government vehicle allegedly used in the raid, despite the investigating officer admitting entries had been made in it.
The judgment also pointed to overwriting and unsigned corrections in police records relating to the vehicle registration number and timing of the suspect’s arrival. “It is understandable that there could be grammatical mistakes or omissions in writing or mistakes in noting down oral information, but what was required that every correction, overwriting and interpolation has to be counter-signed to fix the accountability and to understand in what circumstances the said correction, interpolation and overwriting was done,” the Court said while acquitting the Nigerian.
