Chandigarh, July 18 -- A special NDPS court in Chandigarh has sentenced a Nigerian national to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) after convicting him of possessing a commercial quantity of heroin (250gm or above) and illegally overstaying in India after the expiry of his visa in 2015. Special judge Bhawna Jain convicted Chuks under Section 21(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. In addition to the prison term, the court imposed a fine of Rs.1 lakh under the NDPS Act and Rs.10,000 under the Foreigners Act. In default of payment, the convict will undergo additional imprisonment. Both sentences will run concurrently. According to the prosecution, a police team of the operation cell was on patrol near the slip road adjoining Tribune Chowk in the Industrial Area on October 27, 2021, when it noticed the accused behaving suspiciously. The prosecution alleged that the accused attempted to discard a polythene packet, which was recovered and found to contain 272gm of heroin. The seized contraband was later confirmed to be heroin by the central forensic science laboratory (CFSL). During the investigation, police found that the accused had entered India on a business visa that had expired in 2015 and had continued to stay in the country without valid authorisation. The defence argued that the accused had been illegally picked up from Tilak Nagar in Delhi several days before the alleged recovery and falsely implicated in the case. It also questioned the absence of independent witnesses, discrepancies in the prosecution witnesses' statements, delay in sending the sample for forensic examination, and alleged non-compliance with the mandatory safeguards under Section 50 of the NDPS Act. Rejecting these contentions, the court held that the prosecution had successfully established the recovery of the contraband through reliable testimony of official witnesses, supported by documentary and forensic evidence. The judge observed that the chain of custody of the seized heroin remained intact from the time of seizure until forensic examination. The court further held that Section 50 of the NDPS Act was not attracted in the present case as the recovery was made from a polythene packet and not from the personal search of the accused. It also observed that the absence of independent public witnesses was not fatal to the prosecution case, particularly when there was no evidence suggesting bias or false implication by the police officials. Finding that the accused had failed to rebut the statutory presumptions under the NDPS Act or produce any valid document extending his visa, the court held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and ordered that the period already spent in custody be set off against the sentence....