The possession of arms and ammunition without a license, as prohibited under Sec. 25(1-A) of the Arms Act, can lead to conviction based on the recovery of such items from the accused's possession.

1. This is an appeal from jail. The sole appellant has been convicted under Sec. 25(1-A) of the Arms Act and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years.

2. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 31-1-1989 at about 3 p.m. a raiding party went to Village Kutkuri within Rafiganj police station for apprehending appellant Jai Prakash Chamar of the said village as he was involved in a few cases of murder, dacoity and extremists activities in the area and was avoiding arrest. The raiding party consisting of 42 Security men of the 95 Batalian of Border Security Force and Platoon Commander proceeded to the house . It has been further alleged that when the Police Officers and members of the Border Security Force were at some distance from the house of the appellant, Jai Prakash Chamar, two persons were seen fleeing towards north west after scaling over the compound wall of his house and one person fled away towards east. The persons fleeing away towards north west were chased and overpowered in a field situated at a distance of about 1 km. It has been further alleged that A.S.I. caught hold of appellant Jai Prakash Chamar while one member of the Border Security Force overpowered the other accused who disclosed his identity as Sheo Prasad Rawani . From the possession of appellant Jai Praksh Chamar a country made sten-gun, a belt containing 19 live and one used cartridges and a bag containing certain literature including the literature of M.C.C. were recovered. These articles were seized and a seizure list was prepared. Thereafter an F.I.R. was lodged. The police started investigation and after completion of investigations the police submitted charge sheet. Thereafter the cognizance was taken and finally the trial concluded with the result as indicated above. Hence this appeal.

3. The appellant pleaded not guilty and has stated that he has been falsely implicated in this case at the instance of his enemy.

4. The prosecution in order to prove its case has examined altogether 9 witnesses. PW 1 is Mojibur Rahman. He is a formal witness. PW 2 is Ram Singhashan Singh. PW 3 is Bikramaditya Shukla. PW 4 is S.M.S. Hashmi. PW 5 is Timal alias Tibal Sah. PW 6 is Tojban Uraon. PW 7 is Arun Kumar Sinha. PW 8 is Risheshwar Dayal. PW 9, Prem Chandra Mishra, is the I.O.

5. PW 4, S.M.S. Hashmi, the informant of this case has fully supported the cases of the prosecution. According to him he was informed by the local Superintendent of Police that notorious absconding criminal Jai Prakash Chamar was reported to have arrived at his house and, therefore, he was instructed to apprehend him. He has further stated that he organised a raiding party consisting of the Police Officers of Rafiganj police station and Border Security Force personnel and reached village Kitkuri at about 3 p.m. and surrounded the village. He himself proceeded towards the house of appellant Jai Prakash Chamar along with the police officers and 9 security men of the Border Security Force. He has further stated that when they reached near the house of appellant three persons emerged out of that house. One fled towards east, while two fled away towards north west after scaling over the northern compound wall of the house. They were chased. One of them who was subsequently identified as appellant was carrying a country made sten gun in his hand. He has further stated that both the men including the appellant Jai Prakash Chamar who were fleeing away towards north west were overpowered by A.S.I. and Border Security Force. He has further stated that from the possession of the appellant Jai Prakash Chamar a bag containing a belt of cartridges and some extremist literature was also recovered. The belt contained 19 line and one used cartridges of 7.62 bore meant for used in self loading rifles. The appellant did not produce any licence for possessing the said arms and ammunition. They were seized and a seizure list was prepared. A copy of the seizure list was give