Mohali, April 6 -- A Mohali special court awarded 10 years' rigorous imprisonment to a 26-year-old man convicted of possessing 300 gram heroin, considered as commercial quantity under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The man, identified as Rakesh, was caught with the contraband in February 2022. Though the defence had argued that the search conducted upon him was invalid, the court rejected the claim. It held that Section 50, which requires the search to be conducted in the presence of a gazetted officer or a magistrate, was fulfilled as deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Amarpreet Singh, a gazetted officer, supervised the entire process.

The court also dismissed the defence argument regarding contradictions...