KOCHI: Criticising the police over procedural lapses during seizure and arrest, the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court has acquitted all the accused in the 2015 drug case that allegedly involved Malayalam actor Shine Tom Chacko. The court remarked the accused have not been found guilty of the offences cited. It also slammed the police for failing to prove Shine and the other accused had used cocaine.

The prosecution had stated the accused conspired together to sell, possess, and consume cocaine. It argued that Reshma Rangaswamy, Blessy Sylvester, Shine Tom Chacko, Tincy Babu, and Sneha Babu — accused 1 to 5, respectively — organised a smoke party at a flat near Kavalakkal Temple in Kochi on January 30, 2015. Reshma was found in possession of seven grams of cocaine, kept in 10 small packets in her jeans. The court, however, remarked that the deposition of the witnesses shows a lot of omissions and contradictions.

As per the witnesses’ statements, the seized drugs had been submitted to the then inspector with Kadavanthra police station, the probe officer. However, he was not present during the seizure. The Kadavanthra SI, at the time of his examination, clarified these are typographical mistakes, the order said.

The court said chemical analysis reports showed no traces of cocaine in the blood samples of the accused. It said the body search of the female accused was done without the presence of a female gazetted officer, which is a mandatory requirement under the NDPS Act.