The Jharkhand High Court has imposed an Rs 8 lakh fine on the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for incarcerating a man for eight years in a “false” case. The court has mandated that this penalty be paid to Manga Singh as compensation and has ordered his immediate release from prison.
Singh, a resident of Bihar, filed a petition alleging that he was unlawfully detained in prison “at the behest of the NCB.”
During the hearing of the petition, Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi’s court noted that the bureau had “registered a false case,” resulting in Singh’s prolonged incarceration.
On October 6, 2015, the NCB arrested Singh based on a tip-off from a hotel in Barachatti in Gaya district, Bihar, where he was employed as a waiter. He was subsequently transported to Ranchi. The bureau had filed a case in Ranchi, portraying Singh as a “drug peddler.”
Meanwhile, the Gaya Police conducted an investigation in the hotel and its vicinity, establishing Singh’s innocence. Additionally, the NCB conducted its own inquiry, affirming that the case against Singh had been wrongly filed.
