Section 452

The Supreme Court held that the power to confiscate a vehicle seized in an NDPS case lies with the court trying the offence under Section 63(1), not with the Drug Disposal Committee, which may dispose of a conveyance only with the court's permission (paras 11-12, 14). It ordered the release of a lorry whose occupants had been acquitted, setting aside the orders refusing release (paras 16-17).

The Rajasthan High Court set aside a 10-year NDPS sentence in a 282 kg poppy husk case, holding that nothing linked the appellant to the vehicle or the contraband. A custodial statement by a person held in another case, which led to no fresh discovery, was barred by Sections 25 and 26 of the Evidence Act, and a police statement the witness did not repeat on oath was not evidence (paras 6.1-6.5, 7-8).