Confessions of co-accused alone are insufficient for conviction; substantive evidence is necessary for criminal charges to proceed.

ORDER :

In this petition the petitioner seeks for the following reliefs:

"WHEREFORE, it is prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to quash the entire proceedings in C.C.No.5210/2024 (Cr.No.203/2024) for the offences punishable U/S 189(2), 191(2), 191(3), 329(4), 54, 109, 103(1), 61(1) and 190 of BNS 2023 by Hassan rural police, pending on the file of 1^st Addl. Civil Judge and JMFC at Hassan in so far as petitioner herein is concerned in the interest of justice and equity."

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and respondent No.2 served unrepresented.

3. A perusal of the material on record will indicate that the 2^nd respondent/complainant filed the instant complaint against the petitioner/accused No.7 and other accused for the offences punishable under Sections 189 (2), 191(2), 191(3), 329(4), 54, 109, 103(1), 61(1) and 190 of BNS 2023.

4. The said complaint was registered as an FIR in Cr.No.203/2024 and after investigation, charge sheet has been filed which is currently pending in C.C.No.5210/2024 before the Trial Court for the offences punishable under Sections 103 (1), 189(2), 190, 191(2), 191(3), 329(4), 54, 61(1) and 190 of BNS 2023.

5. A perusal of the material will indicate that neither the FIR nor the charge sheet nor the statement of witnesses would indicate the presence or participation of petitioner/accused No.7 in the incident in question. In fact the petitioner is sought to be arraigned as accused No.7 only on the basis of the alleged voluntary statement of co-accused which is impermissible in law as held by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Surinder Kumar Khanna Vs. Intelligence officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence - (2018) 8 SCC 271 wherein it held as under

Special leave to appeal granted. This appeal challenges the correctness of judgment and order dated 21-12-2016 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Surinder Kumar Khanna v. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence by which the High Court affirmed the conviction of the appellant for the offences punishable under Section 21(c) read with Section 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (“the NDPS Act”, for short).

2. According to the prosecution:

2.1. On a specific information that narcotic drugs were going to be transported from Jammu side to Chandigarh via Hoshiarpur in a white- coloured Indica car bearing Registration No. PB 02 AJ 7288, the officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (for short “DRI”) laid picket at toll barrier at Hoshiarpur-Garhshankar Road. At 1035 hrs, they intercepted an Indica car of white colour which was coming from Hoshiarpur side bearing Registration No.PB 02 AJ 7288. The car was being driven by one Raj Kumar alias Raju whereas one Surinder Pal Singh was sitting next to him. To ensure safe search of the car and personal search of occupants, the car was taken to the office of Superintendent, Central Excise Range, Model Town, Hoshiarpur. The officers of DRI served notice under Section 50 of the NDPS Act upon said Raj Kumar alias Raju and Surinder Pal Singh.

2.2. As desired by said suspects, their personal searches and that of the car were conducted in the presence of independent witnesses and Shri S.J.S. Chugh, Senior Intelligence Officer. Personal searches of the suspects did not result in recovery of any incriminating material. However, when the car was searched, four packets wrapped with yellowish adhesive tapes were found concealed in the door of dickey of the car. The gross weight of those four packets came to 4.300 kg.

2.3. Each of those packets was containing white-coloured granules/powder which gave a very pungent smell. The pinch of each packet was tested, which showed the presence of heroin. The recovered heroin weighing 3.990 kg was valued at Rs 19,95,000. Those four packets were taken into possession. Two representative samples of 5 gm each were taken out from each of the packets as per rules. Indica car was also seized by the office