Judgment

UNTWALIA, J.:- The appellant in this appeal has been convicted under Section 9 (1) of the Opium Act and has been sentenced to undergo R. I. for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/-, in default some more imprisonment. By special leave, he has filed this appeal.

2. A raid was conducted on the premises bearing No. F. 16, Sarafa Nagar, Ludhiana. The prosecution case is that six packets containing 481/2 Kilograms of opium were recovered from the storeroom of the house. The recovery made in the raid is not challenged. What was argued on behalf of the appellant and reiterated before us was that the prosecution has not proved that the appellant was in conscious possession of the opium recovered from the house. The raid was conducted when the appellant was not there in the house. The only person present then was Janardhan Shankar, P. W. 1. According to his evidence, the appellant had gone to Vaishno Devi five or six days before the raid and he was not present in the house when the recovery was made. According to his evidence, the appellant was the tenant of the house. But other witnesses did not support him on this point. According to the evidence of the landlord P. W. 6 the ap