When rats eat evidence: How a drug case collapsed and accused walked free | Today News

Bizarre as it may sound, rats have feasted on 200 kg of marijuana (ganja) kept inside a police station, if Jharkhand cops are to be believed. Rats have also earlier been blamed for polishing off seized liquor in dry Bihar and currency notes in Assam.

Three years ago, the Jharkhand Police caught a vehicle carrying 200 kg of ganja. When the case went into trial, the police claimed that the seized drugs — stored at the police station - had been eaten by rats, leading to the acquittal of the sole accused.

According to an Indian Express report, the Ormanjhi Police in Ranchi had intercepted a white Bolero vehicle on NH-20 on 17 January 2022, after receiving a tip-off that drugs were being transported from Ranchi to Ramgarh.

When police halted the car, two people fled, while one of them, Indrajeet Rai, was caught. The police seized 200 kg of ganja concealed in specially created compartments.

A First Information Report (FIR) was subsequently lodged under Sections 20(b)(ii)(c) and 22(c) of the NDPS Act. Rai was arrested in January 2022 and remained in judicial custody throughout the trial.

However, the only accused in the drugs case was acquitted by a special NDPS court in Ranchi after it pointed out several flaws in the police investigation, including the investigating officer’s claim that 200 kg of ganja was eaten by rats.

In an order dated 19 December 2025, Additional Judicial Commissioner-III-cum-Special Judge Anand Prakash cleared Indrajeet Rai, stating that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The court also questioned how the seized narcotics were handled.

Referring to a station diary entry that said the seized ganja was destroyed by rodents, the court, according to the Indian Express report, observed, “This casts a suspicion on the very seizure of the case and its handling by the police.”

According to the order, Rai told the police that the ganja belonged to Vikash Chourasia and Kundan Rai, who escaped, and that he was transporting it to Bakhtiyarpur in Bihar on their instructions.

While examining seven prosecution witnesses — all police officials — the court found serious contradictions in their statements on crucial details such as the time and place of interception, who arrested the accused, and the direction in which the other two accused fled.

“There are several contradictions in their statements… which casts a doubt whether the alleged accused was caught at the place as stated by the prosecution or from somewhere else,” the court noted.

The court also highlighted that no independent public witness was examined, even though the alleged seizure took place on a busy national highway with nearby residential areas.

It further said the prosecution failed to link Rai to the seized vehicle. “No other paper of the vehicle has been brought before the court which could show that the vehicle was in any way associated with the accused,” the judgment stated.

During cross-examination, the investigating officer admitted that the seized vehicle had no engine or chassis number. The court noted that this was neither properly recorded nor reported to transport authorities, further weakening the case.

Another major setback for the prosecution was its own admission that the seized contraband kept in the police malkhana was eaten by rats. A station diary entry confirming this was produced in court in February 2024, shortly before the material was to be presented during the trial.

The court also pointed out serious lapses in the sampling, sealing, and preservation of evidence, with several witnesses unable to clearly explain when samples were taken or how they were marked.

This is not an isolated case of rats tampering with evidence. In 2018, over 1,000 litres of seized liquor kept in the storehouse of Bareilly’s Cantonment police station disappeared, with local policemen blaming rats for guzzling it down.

In 2024, the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench raised serious concerns over the poor condition of police malkhanas used to store evidence after police said samples in a case had been destroyed by rats due to rain, preventing a key forensic report. The court said the police had failed to properly safeguard the seized material and noted that 28 other samples had also been damaged. Calling the situation alarming, the judge directed the state police chief to inspect all malkhanas, ensure regular inventory updates, and improve their upkeep.