JUDGMENT :

GAUTAM CHOURDIYA, J.

1. This appeal arises out of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 24.09.2018 passed by the Special Judge (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985), Kondagaon, District Kondagaon (C.G.) in Special Case No. 01 of 2015, whereby the appellant stands convicted and sentence as under:-

2. The allegation against appellant Duryodhan Nag is that on 11.12.2014, 7 Kg and 100 gram of ganja was found in possession of the appellant in his bag.

3. Facts of the case, in brief, are that on 11.12.2014 PW-6 Narad Kumar Suryavanshi, Inspector/S.H.O. who was posted at Police Station Farasgaon at the relevant time, received secret information from the informant that three persons (present appellant and two others), who were residents of Orrisa, were having ganja which was kept in three separate bags. The said three persons were sitting at Subhash Chandra Bose Tiraha near Boregaon Dhabha and were waiting for bus for going towards Raipur. On this, the said information given by the informant was recorded at 18:00 hours in Roznamchasaha No. 28 vide Ex.P/33 and copy of the same is Ex.P/33-C. After recording Ex.P/33 by PW-6, he gave notice through Constable No. 546 Krishna Kumar Sahu to witnesses namely Sanjiya Kundu and Mahavir Netam to be present and the same was recorded at 18:05 in Roznamchasahna No. 29 vide Ex.P/34 and the copy of the same is Ex. P/34-C. Thereafter, PW-6 prepared Panchnama (Ex.P/2) at about 18:35 hours under Section 42 of the N.D.P.S. Act regarding information received from informant in presence of the witnesses.

4. On there being no search warrant to start the above proceedings, PW-6 sent information through Constable No. 343 Raghunath Kashyap to office of S.D.O.P. Farasgaon which was reduced into writing at about 18:55 hours in Roznamchasahna No. 31 vide Ex.P/36 and the copy of the same is Ex. P/36-C and he also directed Constable no. 343 that after giving letter vide Ex.P/37 to S.D.O.P. he must remain present on the spot. Thereafter, PW-6 proceeded for further action and reached at Subhash Chandra Bose Tiraha near Boregaon Dhabha along with police personnel, independent witnesses and articles like needle, thread, seal, electronic weighing machine, arrest memo, plain-paper, carbon and other articles for apprehending the accused/appellant and in this regard it was reduced into writing in Roznamchasahna No. 32 vide Ex.P/38 and copy of the same is Ex.P/38-C. On being inquired, the present appellant and other co-accused persons disclosed their name as Durydhan Nag (the present appellant), Hari Prasad Mangli and juvenile (v) and the police party apprehended them.

5. In presence of witnesses namely Sanjiya Kundu (PW-1) and Mahavir Netam (PW-7), the police gave notices (Ex.P/4 and Ex.P/5) to the appellant and co-accused namely Hariprasad Mangli under Section 50 of the NDPS Act and made them aware of their legal rights, on which they consented to be searched by the police. Firstly, PW-6 got personal search of himself by the appellant and co-accused persons vide Ex.P/6 which was without any result. Thereafter, the members of raiding party and the witnesses were searched by the appellant and co-accused person vide Ex.P/7 and Ex.P/8, which was also without any result. Appellant Duryodhan Nag gave his consent for search by police vide Ex.P/10. Thereafter, at about 21:30 hours, dark green coloured bag of appellant Duryodhan was searched by PW-6 in which contraband article (seeds and leaves of ganja) was found in plastic-bag vide search panchnama Ex.P/12 and at about 21:35 hour, recovery panchnama w