PATNA, India, July 30 -- Patna High Court issued the following judgment on July 14:
Heard learned counsel for the appellants and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.
2. This appeal has been preferred for setting aside the judgment of conviction dated 09.08.2023 (hereinafter referred to as the 'impugned judgment') and the order of sentence dated 28.08.2023 (hereinafter referred to as the 'impugned order') passed by learned 1st Additional Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge, NDPS Act, Gopalganj (hereinafter referred to as the 'learned trial court') in Sessions Trial No. 15 of 2019 arising out of Mohammadpur P.S. Case No. 116 of 2019. By the impugned judgment of conviction, the appellants have been convicted under Section 20(b)(ii)(C) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (in short 'NDPS Act') and by the impugned order, they have been ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for twelve years with a fine of Rs.1,20,000/- under Section 20(b) (ii)(C) of the NDPS Act and in default of payment of fine, they have to further undergo one year imprisonment.
Prosecution Case 3. The prosecution case is based on the self-statement of S.I. Mithilesh Kumar Pandey (PW-7), S.H.O. Mohammadpur Police Station recorded by himself on 04.07.2019. In his written application (Exhibit '3'), the informant has stated that on 04.07.2019 at 15:30 Hrs, he got secret information that a smuggler is bringing ganja in a container from Motihari side. After registering sanha, the Senior Officer was informed and as per his instructions, a raiding team was formed in which informant was also a member. The informant along with raiding team reached near Sudama Singh's hotel at 15:45 Hrs and started checking the vehicles. During checking, a container coming from Dumariyaghat (Motihari) was asked to stop but the driver and the co-driver stopped the vehicle, got down from the vehicle and started running away. They were caught with the help of the police force. At the same time, the Circle Officer, Sidhwaliyan reached there. Few nearby people also gathered there and amongst them two persons namely (i) Sudama Singh (not examined) and (ii) Satyendra Manjhi (PW-9) were made independent witnesses. Name of the driver and the co-driver in the presence of two independent witnesses was asked on which the driver told his name as Vikash Kumar (appellant no. 2) and the co-driver told his name as Amit Kumar (appellant no. 1). Thereafter, following the rules of search, the arrested persons and the container were searched in front of independent witnesses and the Circle Officer. During search, Rs. 25,000/- and a mobile were recovered from the pocket of driver Vikash Kumar and a mobile was recovered from the pocket of codriver Amit Kumar. A total of nineteen bundles packed in plastic were recovered from the box made in the cabin of container bearing no. AS09AC-6571. The bundles were opened in which ganja like material was found. Each bundle was weighed and marked as Exhibits 'H-1' to 'H-19', in which a total of 178.160 kg of ganja was recovered. Along with this, 900 packs of palm oil of fifteen each were recovered from the seized container. On asking about the documents of the recovered goods, the driver and co-driver could not produce any document. Driver Vikash Kumar told that the above recovered ganja belonged to Raju @ Subodh Kumar Mishra of Bettiah and had loaded the said container in Birganj. Thereafter, samples were taken out from the recovered ganja and it was sealed. A seizure list of all the recovered items was prepared in front of independent witnesses, Circle Officer and the arrested accused. The informant, Circle Officer and independent witnesses signed the seizure list and one copy of the seizure list was given to each accused. Accordingly, an FIR was registered against the arrested persons under the NDPS Act.
4. On the basis of above written application of the informant, Mohammadpur P.S. Case No. 116 of 2019 dated 04.07.2019 was registered against the appellants under Section 414/34 of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') and Section 20(b) (ii)(C), 22(c), 23(c), 29(i) of the NDPS Act.
5. After investigation, police submitted charge sheet bearing Chargesheet No. 95 of 2019 dated 30.09.2019 against the appellants under Section 414/34 IPC and Section 20(b)(ii)(C), 22(c), 23(c), 29(i) of the NDPS Act. Thereafter, vide order dated 21.11.2019, learned trial court took cognizance of the offences.
6. The charges were read over to the accused-appellants in Hindi to which they denied and claimed to be tried, accordingly, vide order dated 03.12.2019, charges were framed against the appellants for the offences under Section 414/34 IPC and Sections 20(b)(ii), 22(c), 22(c) of the NDPS Act.
The rest of the document can be viewed at https://patnahighcourt.gov.in/viewjudgment/NSMxMDkzIzIwMjMjMSNO-dOroBK85a0A=
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
