The Supreme Court dismissed the petition challenging the...

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition challenging the cancellation of bail granted to the accused in a criminal conspiracy case involving cross-border narco-terrorism and a huge recovery of 500 kgs of heroin. The Court upheld the legality of the Central Government's orders transferring the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). It held that once the NIA is directed to investigate a Scheduled Offence against an accused, it can also investigate any other offence committed by the same accused, provided it is connected to the Scheduled Offence. The Court interpreted the term "the accused" in Section 8 of the NIA Act to include any other accused whose name emerges during the investigation and who has committed an offence connected to the Scheduled Offence. The NIA's investigation into non-scheduled offences under the NDPS Act against the petitioner was justified due to their connection with the Scheduled Offences being probed in the Gujarat case.