102 youngsters who tested positive for drugs in Bombay 72u00b0 East raid opt for rehab programme to avoid jail
102 youngsters who tested positive for drugs in Bombay 72u00b0 East raid opt for rehab programme to avoid jail
At least 102 of the 231 revellers who tested positive for doping at Bombay 72u00b0 East, Juhu, in October last year have approached the police seeking relief under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act for being first-time offenders.
Their fate is now in the hands of the two-day-old special three-member committee consisting of a deputy commissioner of police of the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC), an investigating officer and a doctor in charge of the drug de-addiction programme attached to J J hospital, who will scrutinise their request.
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Deputy Commissioner of Police (ANC) Vishwas Nagre Patil confirmed the move stating that they will consider
the applicants as victims and not offenders.
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The first time offenders will undergo a rehabilitation programme and their name will be dropped from the case instead of the six months' imprisonment they face if they're found guilty.
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Nine arrested
This move could be a ray of hope for the nine people who were arrested on Sunday outside Vie Lounge, Juhu, for consuming cocaine.
One of them included a high profile girl from Delhi, who had recently lost her job in the US due to recession (see box).
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The case also led the police to nab two drug peddlers, Mulehashan Ansari and Sahil Abdul Ansari from Andheri, and recover two kg of contraband worth Rs 15 lakh.
Back to India
Radhika Goswami (28, name changed), a graduate in Human Resources from Delhi University, started taking drugs two years ago while working in the USA.
But Goswami, who is born and brought up in Chandigarh, returned to India recently after she was laid off due to the recession.
Inspector M Hiremath of the ANC said, "She said her lavish life style and friends got her hooked on drugs."
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Goswami was to attend a job interview in Mumbai on Monday, the day after she was arrested. "She cried and pleaded with us for a few hours to let her go, but we can't do anything," added Hiremath.
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