Pune: The Bombay high court has granted bail to a courier firm owner, Nishant Shashikant Modi, who was among 12 people arrested in the seizure of 1,800kg mephedrone (MD) in Pune in 2024.On Feb 19, 2024, Pune police intercepted two people with 500gm of MD. The duo revealed the name of a third person, who said a foreigner gave him the drug to sell.During the investigation, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested a total of 12 people. It was also found that Modi had transferred money to 2 co-accused.In Nov 2025, an NDPS court in Pune rejected Modi’s bail plea. He then moved the high court contending that he did not hold an international courier licence and was exporting on the licence of a third party, accused no. 10 in the case.Modi contended that the amount he had paid was the charges of the said courier. The MD found in the possession of the co-accused was worth around Rs 200 crore. Modi argued that the amount he had transferred to the accused no. 10 via bank transaction was Rs.15 lakh.The bench of Justice Shivkumar Dige said in his bail order on Jan 6, “To show the involvement of the applicant in the crime, evidence is required. The applicant has been behind the bars for 1 year and 4 month. It may take time to conclude the trial.”Justice Dige referred to the FIR and the documents produced on record and noted, “No call records were produced on record to show that at the time of incident the applicant was in contact with the co-accused. The amount of Rs.21 lakh was sent by the applicant in the name of the firm of the accused no.10 and an amount of Rs.15 lakh was sent in the bank account of the accused no.10.”“The airway bill produced on record showed that the cargos had been booked. The applicant has no criminal antecedents. The applicant ran the firm Express Hub International and Cargo and accused no.10 also ran an international courier firm. It is contention that the amounts transferred by the applicant were towards courier charges, as the applicant did not have an international courier licence. The said amount was transferred through a bank account,” the bench observed.
