Judgment :

The appellant was convicted under Sections 8/18, 8/20(B)(ii) and 8/20(B)(i) of the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances Act and sentenced to 10 years R.I. and fine of Rs.1,00,000/- and in default thereof to undergo R.I. For two years. He is before us by way of special leave.

The prosecution story is as under:

On 11th September, 1999 at about 7.00 a.m., PW.11 Ram Chander, SHO, Kotwali Fatehpur and several other police officials raided the house allegedly belonging to the appellant to arrest Pankaj his son in some criminal matter, and as they approached his residence, they saw the appellant who was present attempting to run away. He was however apprehended and the house entered and searched and a huge quantity of Charas, opium and Gaanja were recovered from under a mattress in a newly constructed room. The S.H.O. sent information to the Superintendent of police, Seekar and completed the other formalities relating to the search & seizure. Several independent witnesses were also called to countersign the search memos. The contraband recovered was sent to the Malkhana and thereafter for analysis to the Laboratory and a report was duly received. On completion of the investiga