A Delhi court has sought a report from police commissioner Sanjay Arora asking why no efforts were made to arrest a man who was serving 10 years in jail in a drugs case but jumped interim bail in 1998 to be held only recently.

Additional sessions judge Ekta Gauba Mann was hearing the proceedings regarding a 1994 FIR registered in Jama Masjid Police Station, wherein the investigating officer produced the accused Ashok Kumar Yadav before the court.

The court noted the IO’s submissions that Yadav was convicted under Section 20 (contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on January 23, 1995, and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years, the next day.

It noted the Delhi High Court granted 30 days' interim bail to Yadav on January 27, 1998, following which the convict jumped the interim bail and was arrested only on December 5, 2024.

"IO has requested that the convict be sent to jail to undergo the remaining period of sentence," the court said in its order on December 6.

Ordering Yadav to be sent to prison, the court said though the convict jumped bail, no coercive action, such as issuance of proclamation and non-bailable warrants, was taken and directed its order to be sent to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, to inquire and send a report in writing through any deputed assistant commissioner of police on February 1, 2025.

The court said, the report needs to enumerate the "reason why the IO concerned of the present FIR as well all the previous station house officers of Jama Masjid police station" did not make efforts to arrest the convict despite the passage of 25 years from the date of his jumping interim bail.

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