The main legal point established in the judgment is that the sentencing provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act at the time of the offence should be applied, and any subsequent amendment to the Act should not result in a penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the offence.

1. Both the appeals arise out of the same judgment and, as such, they were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. Sameer Das and Bipul Sharma (Appellants in Cr. Appeal No. 342 of 2006) and Amarjeet Singh and Jagir Singh (Appellants in Cr. Appeal No. 409 of 2006), being aggrieved by the judgment dated 27.02.2006 and order dated 28.02.2006 passed by the Special Judge, Purnea in Special Case No. 1 of 2001 holding them guilty of offences u/s. 20(b)(ii)(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and inflicting punishment of rigorous imprisonment for 12 years and fine of Rs. 1 lac. each, in default to further undergo simple imprisonment for six months, have preferred these appeals.

3. According to the allegation, on receipt of a telephonic message by the Assistant Commissioner of Custom (Preventive), Forbesganj that contraband ganja is being transported along with jute in a truck to Kolkata via Kishanganj, a preventive team under the leadership of the Superintendent, Custom (Technical), Forbesganj was constituted to intercept the truck. Aforesaid information was also forwarded to the preventive team of Forbesganj. Both the teams assembled at Ferrygola, Kishanganj. At about 6.50 p.m. one Tata truck bearing registration No. WB-25A-4150 loaded with Jute was stopped and few gunny bags having higher weight found concealed in the middle of the truck, covered by Jute bundles. Occupants of the truck including driver and Khalasi on inquiry gave their names as the appellants and the driver informed that the gunny bags contained ganja. Due to darkness as also non-availability of the independent witnesses and for security reasons, truck loaded with Jutes and bags containing ganja along with its occupants were brought to the office of the Custom, Forbesganj at 3.45 a.m. on 1.01.2001. At the Custom Office, independent witnesses were called from the nearby places and in their presence gunny bags were unloaded, which contained ganja. On weighment 380 Kgs. of contraband ganja was found. The ganja as also the truck and Jute were seized and Panchnama was prepared of the seized items. The independent witnesses as also the occupants of the truck put their signatures. Sample was also taken from the seized ganja in presence of the independent witnesses and the occupants of the truck.

4. Occupants of the truck were also interrogated by Superintendent (Preventive) Custom, Forbesganj in presence of independent witnesses and they confessed their guilt and disclosed the names of Tilak Sharma and Gurumukh Singh (both absconder) to be involved in the case. According to the prosecution, sample taken was sent for chemical analysis and report received disclosed that it contained ganja.

5. Ultimately the appellants were charged for illegally possessing 380 kilograms of ganja in a truck bearing registration No. WB-25A-4150 punishable u/s. 20(b)(ii)(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Appellants pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

6. Prosecution in support of its case had altogether examined 14 witnesses, out of whom, P.W. 3 Birendra Kumar had lodged the complaint. P.W. 1 Upendra Kumar Marik and P.W. 2 Anandi Sah are witnesses to the seizure. P.W. 8 Bidul Kumar, Superintendent of Central Excise headed the preventive team constituted at Forbesganj; whereas P.W. 4 Rabindra Kumar, P.W. 9 Ashok Kumar Das, P.W. 10 Navin Kumar Bhaskar, P.W. 12 Suman Khan and P.W. 13 Vijay Kumar Gupta are members of the preventive team. P. W. 5 Bharat Bhushan Pandey was the driver of the vehicle of the preventive team of Forbesganj. P.W. 6 Ram Suresh Ram at the relevant time was Assistant Commissioner of Custom at Forbesganj who on receipt of the telephonic information about the movement of the contraband ganja constituted the preventive team. P.W. 11 Suresh Chaudhary and P.W. 14 Anand Prakash Sharma were the members of the preventive team of Kishanganj Office and had assembled at the place where the truc