Bala Ganesh A/L Kaliswaran (Left), Venggadesvaran A/L
Ravechandran (Middle), Dato’ Geethan Ram Vincent (Right)
Duo Acquitted of Trafficking Meth
Cheang Sue Lyn
SHAH ALAM:
Two men accused of drug trafficking four years ago walked out of courtroom today as free men after the High Court acquitted them of the charge.
Venggadesvaran A/L Ravechandran and Bala Ganesh A/L Kaliswaran were jointly charged under section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
The offence is punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act which carries the death sentence or imprisonment for life and whipping not less than 15 strokes if not sentenced to death, upon conviction.
Dato Geethan Ram Vincent together with MrRevin Kumar represented the accused. The accused was charged for trafficking 102.24g of Methamphetamine at a parking lot outside a Speedmart 99 in Cheras.
8 prosecution witnesses were called to testify.
The original Investigating Officer, Inspector Mahalim bin Mokhtar, and his subsequent replacement,Insepctor Linda binti Abdol Wahab were among the witnesses called.
Defence counsel submitted that there was no evidence connecting the men to the drugs as there were no fingerprints found on the bag in which the substances were contained.
They further pressed that the Accused had no knowledge of the drugs and that other Prosecution witnesses verified that the Accused may not have had possession of the contents of the car.
YA Dato’ Norsharidah Binti Awang acquitted the men at the close of the Prosecution’s case upon finding that a prima facie case was not established.