Mundra port drug haul case: SC rejects bail plea of Delhi businessman Harpreet Singh Talwar

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of a Delhi-based businessman Harpreet Singh Talwar, alias Kabir Talwar, an accused in the Rs 21,000-crore Mundra drug haul case even as it termed the allegation of terror financing against him as premature.

A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh, however, granted liberty to Talwar to seek bail after six months and directed the NIA special court to list the matter twice in a month for expeditious conclusion of trial in the case.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had on September 13, 2021, recovered 2988.21 kg of heroin worth Rs 21,000 crore from some containers that arrived at Mundra port from Afghanistan via Iran. Talwar — who ran popular clubs in Delhi — was arrested in August 2022 in connection with the biggest drug haul in India. Several others, including Afghan nationals, were arrested in the case.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had on April 23 alleged that the proceeds of the crime were used for funding terror activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The very next day, Talwar complained to the top court that his children were being bullied in the school following the NIA’s allegations that proceeds of the crime were used in terror attacks by LeT.

“My children are being bullied in school. They are now called terrorist’s children and had to be brought back. The submission was all over today’s newspapers and media. Without any basis, the NIA made the statement in an NDPS case," senior counsel Aryam Sundaramhad told the Bench on behalf of Talwar.

“No family member of any person, whosoever committed or did not commit any wrong, should suffer,” the Bench had told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

“Our investigation has revealed that the proceeds of this sale have gone to Lashkar-e-Taiba for terror activities and this is what has been reported by the newspapers,” Mehta had submitted.

Delhi