Judgment

K.G. Balakrishnan, J.—The appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 861 of 1997, along with two others was tried by the Addl. Sessions Judge, Banaskantha in Gujarat, for the offence punishable under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as NDPS Act). All the accused were found guilty of the offence under Section 17 of the NDPS Act. They preferred an appeal before the High Court of Gujarat and by the impugned judgment the High Court dismissed the appeal. Aggrieved by the same, the present appeals are filed by the appellants.

2. The facts of the case are that on 1.7.1989 PSI, L.U. Pandey, along with other police constables, was on patrol duty in the night of 1.7.1989 and at about 5.30 A.M., they noticed a tanker lorry bearing registration number GRS 6407 crossing the Palanpur railway crossing line. They signaled the vehicle to be stopped. The vehicle was stopped and they made a search of the lorry. The tanker lorry had three cabins. The police team wanted to conduct further search of the tanker lorry; therefore, they called two Panch witnesses and in their presence they opened the lid of the first cabin of the tanker with a spanner. They fo