# Kolkata Man v. The State of West Bengal & Anr.

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## Report card

By judgment dated 16 May 2008 in C.R.A. No. 628 of 2005, the Calcutta High Court (Coram: Girish Chandra Gupta, Kishore Kumar Prasad, JJ.) returned findings adverse to 2 police personnel, namely: Officer (P.W.4), Narcotics Control Bureau, Calcutta; Superintendent (P.W.7), Narcotics Control Bureau, Calcutta, and directed payment of compensation of Rs 1 lakh (Rs 1,00,000).

- Register number: WB 01 CW 0004
- Case reference: C.R.A. No. 628 of 2005 / (2008) 3 CALLT 345
- Court and date: Calcutta High Court (Coram: Girish Chandra Gupta, Kishore Kumar Prasad, JJ.), 16 May 2008
- Officer(s) at the material time: Officer (P.W.4), Narcotics Control Bureau, Calcutta; Superintendent (P.W.7), Narcotics Control Bureau, Calcutta
- Present service status: Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked: Section 21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; Section 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; Section 69 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
- Finding of the Court (extract): “The appellant in this case was arrested groundlessly by the officers of NCB; the officers in further abuse of their power coerced the appellant to subscribe his signature to a confessional statement drafted by the P.W.4” (at para 35)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum: Adverse finding + compensation. Sentence: compensation only. Compensation: Rs 1 lakh (Rs 1,00,000).
- Present status of the proceedings: No further proceedings are recorded in the cited sources; the judgment is the concluded position shown.
- Source orders: [Judgment / order (primary source)](https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/893167/md-salim-akthar-vs-the-state-of-west-bengal-and-another/); [Permanent link to this record](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-2008-0023)

**Record:** CW-2008-0023 (compiler id CWC-0947); case GAP2-14-001
**Title:** Kolkata Man v. The State of West Bengal & Anr.
**Court:** Calcutta High Court; judges: Girish Chandra Gupta; Kishore Kumar Prasad
**Case number / citation:** C.R.A. No. 628 of 2005 / (2008) 3 CALLT 345
**Judgment:** 2008-05-16 (2008, day precision)
**Incident date:** 1999-07-19 (1999)
**Place:** Kolkata, West Bengal; city town: Kolkata; police station or unit: Narcotics Control Bureau, Calcutta; force: central_armed
**Category:** Violence & unlawful detention
**Sub-category:** illegal detention false imprisonment
**Outcome:** Adverse finding + compensation (adverse_finding_compensation)
**Sections:** NDPS Act s.21; NDPS Act s.29; NDPS Act s.69; CrPC s.482
**Officers (gated display forms):** Officer (P.W.4), Narcotics Control Bureau, Calcutta; Superintendent (P.W.7), Narcotics Control Bureau, Calcutta (2 in record)
**Victims:** Kolkata man (1 in record)
**Sentence / compensation:** compensation only; Rs 1 lakh (Rs 1,00,000)
**Sentence type:** compensation only (compensation_only)

The judgment of the Calcutta High Court records the following account. On 19 July 1999 NCB officers intercepted a Kolkata man and Debashish Dutta at Central Restaurant, B.B. Ganguly Street, Calcutta; 570 grams of heroin was recovered from Dutta and nothing from a Kolkata man, though the arrest memo falsely showed recovery from him. The trial court convicted both men under Sections 21/29 NDPS Act with 10 years RI each, and a Kolkata man spent over 9 years in jail. The court held a Kolkata man was arrested groundlessly and coerced into signing a confessional statement drafted by P.W.4, that the officers acted otherwise than in good faith so Section 69 NDPS gave no protection, and that he was a victim of unlawful arrest and detention. Allowing the appeal, the court set aside the conviction and directed Rs. 1,00,000 token compensation within twelve weeks under its inherent powers, relying on Nilabati Behera, D.K. Basu and Shakila Abdul Gafar Khan. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

> The appellant in this case was arrested groundlessly by the officers of NCB; the officers in further abuse of their power coerced the appellant to subscribe his signature to a confessional statement drafted by the P.W.4

**Sources (1):** [courtkutchehry.com](https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/893167/md-salim-akthar-vs-the-state-of-west-bengal-and-another/)
**Verification:** V2 · Externally reported
**Review:** Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded
**admin category:** misconduct
**admin subcategory:** illegal_detention_false_imprisonment
**allegations:** {'category': 'Other', 'primary': True, 'position': 'Material fact supported', 'position_explainer': 'Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.', 'official_finding_relation': 'supports allegation'}
**anonymised:** False
**court quote para:** 35
**display title redacted:** Kolkata Man v. The State of West Bengal & Anr.
**followup history:** {'date': '2026-09-19', 'scope': 'Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass', 'method': 'skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl)', 'result': 'holds', 'corrections_applied': \[\]}
**followup status:** checked
**institutional response:** {'date': '2008-05-16', 'action_type': 'Order issued', 'status': 'Concluded', 'authority': 'Calcutta High Court', 'independence': 'External', 'legal_effect': 'Binding', 'description': 'The Calcutta High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 100,000.', 'disposition': 'Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)', 'source': '(2008) 3 CALLT 345', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}
**last checked:** 2026-09-19
**link checked per url:** {'url': 'https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/893167/md-salim-akthar-vs-the-state-of-west-bengal-and-another/', 'link_checked': None}
**retracted:** {"is_retracted": false}
**service:** police
**source assessment:** {"established": null, "basis": null}
**status:** current
**subcategory display:** illegal detention false imprisonment
**tier:** Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded
**tier badge:** Externally reported
**tier history:** Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded
**verdict:** accept
**verdict note:** NDPS acquittal with Rs.1L compensation for groundless arrest and coerced confession by NCB officers.
**verification badge:** V2 · Externally reported
**verification status:** V2
**watch:** babuwatch

Status: Adverse finding + compensation.

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