[Sandalwood Drug Case] Supreme Court grants protection from coercive action to Prashanth Raju

The Supreme Court, on Monday, granted interim protection from arrest to Prashant Raju, accused in the Sandalwood Drug case (Prashanth Raju v. State of Karnataka)..The Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and BR Gavai also issued notice in a plea filed by Raju challenging a Karnataka High Court order rejecting his anticipatory bail petition..Citing the Ragini Dwivedi bail order, Raju, through advocate Parmatma Singh, argued that the High Court had erred in not granting him anticipatory bail..The plea by Raju said that his name was dragged into the case only because of a statement given that it was Raju's birthday which was being celebrated during the alleged drug consumption.It further stated that Raju is in no way connected to consumption of narcotics or psychotropic substances. Moreover, the plea states that since Raju is a person for repute, there was no chance of his fleeing from Justice or the investigation process..The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bengaluru Police had named twelve people including Raju and actress Ragini Dwivedi in the First Information Report (FIR) related to the Sandalwood drugs case..Dwivedi and others were earlier booked under Sections 21, 21C, 27A, 27B and 29B of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985..In January 2021, a three-judge Bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman had pointed out that drugs were not found with Dwivedi.The Court had thus granted bail to Dwivedi, noting that the allegations against her only pertain to consuming drugs at parties. It was further noted that the Karnataka High Court itself had found the conspiracy charge levelled against her to be tenuous without further delving on it..Advocate Saurabh Kripal argued for the petitioner. .[Read Order]