The three accused were charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, trafficking cocaine, and possession of proceeds of crime following an RCMP undercover operation.
The Crown's case relied heavily on voice identification evidence from intercepted communications to link the accused Shanker to the conspiracy.
The court found the voice identification evidence unreliable due to cross-racial identification issues, expectation bias, and the poor quality of the recordings.
Without reliable voice identification, the circumstantial evidence of the accused's presence at the warehouse was insufficient to prove their involvement in the drug trafficking scheme beyond a reasonable doubt.
All accused were acquitted of the cocaine-related charges.
Pawar conceded guilt to a separate charge of possessing opium for the purpose of trafficking.
