Alappuzha: The Excise Department has submitted a report to the Excise Court removing seven individuals, including Kaniv, the son of Kuttanad MLA U Prathibha, from the list of accused in a cannabis use case. The revised report leaves only two accused in the case, which initially had nine individuals.

Kaniv was listed as the ninth accused in the case. The original charges alleged that the first and second accused were in possession of cannabis, while the third to ninth accused had consumed it. However, the Excise report submitted in court stated that there was no scientific evidence or credible witness testimony to prove cannabis use by the third to ninth accused.

The case was registered by the Kuttanad Excise unit and later investigated by the Excise Narcotic Special Squad. The investigation was transferred from the local Kuttanad range station following allegations by MLA U Prathibha that her son had been falsely implicated in a fabricated case.

The Excise initially booked the case based on claims that the breath of accused numbers three to nine smelled of cannabis. However, the report clarifies that no medical examination was conducted on these individuals, and no eyewitnesses came forward to support the charge of drug use.

Given the lack of evidence, the court was informed that seven of the accused, including Kaniv, should be excluded from the charge sheet.

A similar report had also been submitted to the government following an internal investigation by the Assistant Excise Commissioner into the MLA’s complaint of a false case against her son.