HC to continue hearing Fardeen Khan's plea tomorrow

Mumbai, Dec 18 (UNI) Bombay High Court today adjourned till tomorrow the hearing of actor Fardeen Khan's plea to grant him immunity from prosecution, under section 64 (A) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and set aside a Special Court order dismissing his application for a detoxification test.

Justice S C Dharmadhikari will continue hearing arguments tomorrow. Fardeen was, present in the court for the proceedings today.

Fardeen's counsel K K Tulsi today told the court that the actor had accepted he had consumed one gram of cocaine due to work pressure.

However, the Narcotics Control Bureau has booked him for attempting to commit offence by procuring cocaine where he could not be given any relief available to one booked for consumption.

However, the affidavit, submitted by NCB officer S V Bhatt, stated that the application was premature as the accused was booked for procuring cocaine and not consuming it. Therefore, the remedy sought was unavailable to him.

Fardeen Khan was taken into custody on May 5, 2001 along with the main accused Nasir Shaikh, who possessed nine grams of cocaine and had come to sell one gram to Khan.

Nasir, in his confession to NCB, had stated that he had met Fardeen at a pub once and had provided him with one gram cocaine five or six times in the four months preceding the arrest.

Fardeen had applied twice to the Special NDPS Judge for conduction of the detoxification test but the same was rejected on the grounds that the relief he sought was not available under the charges he was booked. The lower court had also held that the application would be dealt with during the trial.

UNI ARM KU VD DB1959