Sandalwood Drug Case: Karnataka HC dismisses plea seeking transfer of matter to NIA

The Karnataka High Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking the transfer of the Sandalwood Drug Scandal case involving Kannada actresses Ragini Dwivedi, Sanjjana Galrani and others, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA)..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi opined,."At this stage it is not proper for this Court to go into the question whether for investigation of the said offence, NIA can be appointed."Karnataka High Court.During the hearing, the Bench also went through the First Information Report (FIR) that was registered against the two prominent Kannada actresses and others at the Cottonpet police station on September 4..The Court observed that the FIR was registered very recently, and therefore, it cannot be concluded that the investigation is not being carried out properly..Initially, the petition filed by Geetha Misra through Advocate GR Mohan sought for a transfer of the Sandalwood drug case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT). However, during the course of the hearing, Mohan pushed for transferring the case to the NIA. .The Court had declined to appoint an SIT to probe the case. The order reads, ."A sweeping prayer is made to appoint SIT to generally investigate the illegal drug racket in Karnataka. At highest, an SIT can be appointed to investigate a specific offence. Generally for investigation into the alleged drug racket in Karnataka or Bengaluru, SIT cannot be appointed." .The petitioner also stated that she had given a representation to the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department, citing various instances of road accidents involving people from high society who were under the influence of drugs..Responding to this, the Court opined,"Several incidents from the year 2017 to 2019 have been relied on in the petition. It has not been stated whether in relation to all cases whether FIR was registered or whether investigation is complete or not. On the basis of such representation, a writ of mandamus cannot be issued. The petition will have to be very specific about specific cases, where proper investigation was not carried out.".Recently, Dwivedi and Galrani were taken into custody for allegedly consuming and supplying banned narcotic substances at parties and events that they used to organise. A Special NDPS Court on Monday refused to grant bail to the actresses..[Breaking] Sandalwood Drug Scandal: Special Court denies bail to Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani