Karnataka High Court cancels drug case against Shakti Kapoor’s son Siddhanth

3 min readBengaluruUpdated: Jul 17, 2026 05:10 PM IST

A police search at a party at ‘I Bar’ in Bengaluru’s Park Hotel on June 12, 2022, led to Siddhanth Kapoor's arrest on drug charges. (File Photo)

The Karnataka High Court has cancelled the criminal case against actor Shakti Kapoor’s son, Siddhanth, and two others for allegedly consuming drugs at a Bengaluru hotel party in 2022.

The police had registered a case against Siddhanth, Akil Sony, and Hartosh Singh on June 13, 2022, under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Following this, the accused had moved the court, filing two petitions.

On July 9, Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed the petitions and cancelled the case.

According to Kapoor, on June 12, 2022, he was invited to perform as a disc jockey for four hours at a party at ‘I Bar’ in Bengaluru’s Park Hotel. During the party, he said, the Halasuru police conducted a search and allegedly recovered 5 gm of ganja and 4.86 gm of MDMA, which was found lying in a dustbin in a corner of the party venue.

Kapoor said that all partygoers were questioned and taken to Santhosh Health Care for a medical test. While most were let off, five people, including him, were arrested after allegedly testing positive for a narcotic or psychotropic substance. Kapoor denied the allegation.

On July 9, Justice Nagaprasanna referred to an earlier high court judgment that held that the report of a private laboratory would become a private document under Section 75 of the Indian Evidence Act. The court had noted that such reports are “always doubtful” and that “therefore, lurking suspicion percolates into every report”.

What the counsel argued

The counsel for the accused, advocates Suraj Sampath and H Malatesh, relied on an April 2025 Karnataka High Court judgment where 10 accused charged under the NDPS Act were set free as a medical test on them was conducted at a private medical laboratory, Santosh Hospital.

Story continues below this ad

Sampath had also argued that everything that happened between 1.45 am and 4.45 am, when the incident took place, where 34 people were tested at Santhosh Health Care, was improbable. He also claimed that the NDPS case was registered because of altercations that took place between the police and the petitioners.

The high court, in its April 2025 judgment, had recorded that the state government had failed to produce any government notification or circular that recognised Santosh Hospital as a government recognised/authorised laboratory for any kind of testing.

Allowing the petitions, the bench said, “In the light of the order passed by this court and for the reasons aforementioned, the criminal petitions are allowed.”