'Why no arrests like Aryan Khan?': CAIT demands action against Amazon officials in MP drug bust case

Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sunday demanded the arrest of Amazon officials in connection with an alleged racket of the sale of marijuana through the e-commerce portal.

As per ThePrint, CAIT, in a statement issue in a statement issued Sunday, claimed discriminatory treatment by authorities in drug-trafficking cases registered under the NDPS Act.  The traders’ body in its statement drew comparisons with the Aryan Khan case and said the authorities should show similar promptness in the Madhya Pradesh case as well.

The traders' body further called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah to look into the issue, since NDPS laws empower Central Government agencies to coordinate with state governments and authorities.

CAIT national president BC took aim at the “discrimination” by police agencies, saying that while the NCB “did not waste time” in arresting Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan on the basis of a WhatsApp chat, in the case against Amazon the police have made no arrests despite naming company officials, as per the report.

CAIT’s secretary general Praveen Khandelwal added that the NDPS law empowers the investigating agency to arrest a person without a warrant, if any person produces, possesses, sells, purchases, warehouses, transports, imports or exports a prohibited substance to and from one state to another.

Non-action on the part of state police clearly shows discriminatory treatment between the citizens, Khandelwal added.

“Instead of arresting the Amazon officials, the MP Police preferred to give them notice and waited for Amazon to reply. Under the NDPS Act, there is no provision of any notice. There can not be two different treatments under the law as the Constitution of India guarantees right to equality,” added Khandelwal, as per the report.

Khandelwal also tweeted:

The Madhya Pradesh police had earlier in November busted an online marijuana sale racket leading to the arrest of two persons and seizure of the contraband.

A case was registered under the NDPS Act at Gohad police station in the district on 13 November after 21.7 kilograms of ganja was seized from Gwalior residents Bijendra Tomar and Suraj alias Kallu Pawaiya, the SP said.

The investigation revealed that Pawaiya and Jaiswal had formed a company named 'Babu Tex' and got it registered on Amazon as a seller, Singh said. They supplied ganja from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh through the company under the guise of selling stevia, a plant-based sweetener, he said.

The police of Bhind district had registered a case against executive directors of Amazon India.

Amazon India had said it was investigating the issue.

“The issue was notified to us and we are currently investigating it whether there is any non-compliance on part of the seller. We assure full co-operation and support required to Investigating Authorities and Law Enforcement agencies with ongoing investigations and ensure full compliance to applicable laws,” an Amazon India spokesperson had said.

This isn't the first time CAIT, which has been demanding a codified law for e-commerce since 2017, has taken aim at Amazon.

The traders' body earlier this month released a statement saying that sale of drugs and marijuana on the e-commerce portal was not a new and first offence committed by the retailer.

According to Outlook, CAIT national president BC Bhartia and secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said that as per reports available in the public domain, during initial interrogation by the NIA, the person arrested disclosed that he used his Amazon online shopping account to procure chemicals for making IEDs, batteries and other accessories.

The explosives used in the attack were determined through the forensic probe to be ammonium nitrate, nitroglycerin, etc. Since facilitation of the sale of contraband item ammonium nitrate was used against Indian soldiers, a case of treason should be registered against Amazon and its officials, they said.

With inputs from PTI