Calcutta High Court grants interim bail to pregnant woman in Rs 63 crore drugs case
Times of India | 20 July 2026
Kolkata: Considering the advanced stage of pregnancy and “the availability of obstetric facilities in jail”, Calcutta High Court on July 16 granted interim bail to a Mominpur woman arrested for possession of drugs worth Rs 63 crore till Sept 21 as she is expected to deliver the baby on Aug 13.
Shaista Khan was arrested on April 4 after a raid on her Mominpore home on April 3 unearthed 70 g ganja, 239 g MDMA tables, 8 g cocaine, 118 LSD blots, 9 vials of liquid LSD, and Rs 4,35,000 cash. Two other places were raided — Grenville Russel D’cruz residence and a flat in Batanagar. Sleuths seized 2.4 kg ganja, 3,974 MDMA tablets, 184 g cocaine, 760 g amphetamine, 263 LSD blot papers, 2 kg liquid LSD, and 1,770 tramadol capsules from the Batanagar flat.
Shaista’s husband was arrested in the Philippines for similar acts.
The Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) claimed it was a drug racket with the accused persons in different countries. They opposed Shaista’s bail plea, stating that she was getting sufficient treatment at SSKM and was under supervision of the Alipore Correctional Home hospital.
“The quantum of contraband seized and particularly, the nature of contraband seized, are available only by way of international import by surreptitious means,” the NCB counsel argued.
They said she has already been in custody for 100 days and the investigating agency has 80 more days to obtain the materials from the organisations to complete the probe within the statutory period, unless it is extended by the Special Court.
But Justice Tirthankar Ghosh held: “Although pregnancy is not an automatic ground for releasing the petitioner on bail, but having regard to the time which will be consumed in the present investigation and the admitted position that there are concerns about the mother’s life and health as also the viability and interest of the foetus, along with the additional issues that may be involved both to the mother and to the foetus, keeping the following aspects in mind especially — health of the mother; availability of obstetric facilities in jail; risk to unborn child, and advanced stage of pregnancy — I am inclined to release the petitioner on interim bail till Sept 21, 2026.”
But several conditions were imposed on Shaista, including surrendering her passport, dropping a pin on Google maps to show her location, and not being allowed to leave the KMC jurisdiction. After release, she will inform the IO about the nursing home or institute she will be admitted to and the agency can conduct surprise checks to assess her availability. In case of any change, she has to immediately inform the IO.
Shaista will surrender before a special court on Sept 22.