Bizarre as it may sound, rats were feasting on 200 kg of marijuana (ganja) kept at a police station, if the Jharkhand police are to be believed. Rats were also earlier accused of polishing 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 to trial, the police claimed that the seized drugs – stored at the police station – were eaten by rats, leading to the acquittal of the only accused.
According to an Indian Express report, on January 17, 2022, the Ormanjhi police in Ranchi intercepted a white Bolero vehicle on NH-20 after receiving a tip-off that drugs were being transported from Ranchi to Ramgarh.
When the police stopped the car, two people fled, while one of them, Indrajeet Rai, was caught. The police seized 200 kg of ganja hidden in specially created compartments.
Read also | The man accused of killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 is trying to suppress evidence
Subsequently, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed under Section 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 sole accused in the drug case was acquitted by a special NDPS court in Ranchi after he 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 December 19, 2025, Additional Judicial Commissioner-III-cum-Special Judge Anand Prakash cleared Indrajeet Rai, saying the prosecution had not proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt. The court also questioned how the seized narcotics were handled.
Read also | Social media influencer Orry has been summoned by the Mumbai police in a ₹252 drug case
Referring to an entry in the station diary that said the seized ganja was destroyed by rodents, the court, according to an Indian Express report, observed, “This casts doubt on the very seizure of the case and its handling by the police.”
According to the warrant, Rai told the police that the ganja belonged to Vikash Chourasia and Kundan Rai, who had absconded, and that he was transporting it to Bakhtiyarpur in Bihar on their instructions.
Examining seven prosecution witnesses – all police officers – the court found serious discrepancies in their statements on crucial details such as the time and place of the wiretapping, who arrested the accused and the direction in which the other two accused fled.
“There are several contradictions in their statements… which raises doubt as to whether the alleged accused was nabbed at the spot as alleged by the prosecution or from elsewhere,” the court observed.
The court also pointed out that no independent public witness was heard despite the alleged seizure taking place on a busy national road with residential areas nearby.
He further said that the prosecution failed to connect Rai with the seized vehicle. “No other evidence of the vehicle was placed before the court to show that the vehicle was in any way associated with the accused,” the judgment said.
During cross-examination, the investigator admitted that the impounded vehicle had no engine or chassis number. The court noted that this was not properly recorded or reported to the traffic authorities, further weakening the case.
Read also | Haridwar’s Shock! Rats were gnawing on a corpse in a hospital morgue
Another major hurdle for the prosecution was its own admission that the seized contraband kept in the police malkhana had been eaten by rats. A station log entry confirming this was presented to the court in February 2024, shortly before the material was due to be presented during the trial.
The court also pointed to serious irregularities in the sampling, sealing and preservation of evidence, with several witnesses failing to clearly explain when the samples were taken or how they were marked.
This is not an isolated case of rats tampering with evidence. In 2018, more than 1,000 liters of confiscated liquor kept in the warehouse of Bareilly’s Cantonment police station went missing, with local policemen blaming rats for drinking it.
In 2024, a bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Indore raised serious concerns over the poor condition of police malkhanas used to store evidence after police said samples in the case were destroyed by rats due to rain, making a crucial forensic report impossible. The court said the police failed to properly secure the seized material and noted that 28 other samples were also damaged. Describing the situation as alarming, the judge directed the state police chief to inspect all the malkhanas, ensure regular updates of the inventory and improve their maintenance.
